If you build a train station, will trains come? [KT]

High-speed train flies through downtown Fresno
Such a beautiful dream.

Wait - I thought the train was supposed to STOP in downtown Fresno. Well never mind. The California high-speed rail debacle just gets bigger and stupider over time. I have a hard time keeping track, even though I see some of the construction on the project from time to time. I have friends who have already had their lives changed by it.

Below is a rough timeline from some recent stories about developments in Sacramento, San Francisco, Washington D.C. and Fresno. The demise of this program has been announced several times before, but I was not aware of some of the current problems outside the Central Valley.

Thursday, March 2, Sacramento and Washington, D.C.

Dan Walters reports:

Late Wednesday, the California High-Speed Rail Authority dispatched a report to the Legislature, crowing about progress in building a statewide bullet train system. . .
The report implies that the bullet train, a high priority legacy project for Gov. Jerry Brown, is on a fast track to completion.
However, the financially challenged project had just suffered two immense hits, either of which could be fatal.
Just hours before the report was issued, results of the state's latest cap-and-trade auction of greenhouse gas emission allowances - the only source of ongoing bullet train funds - were released and once again it produced almost no money.

Surprise!

Moreover, the report was aired just days after the Trump administration had put an indefinite hold on a $647 million grant for electrifying the Caltrain commuter rail service on the San Francisco Peninsula, a major component of the "blended" bullet train system.

The money spent so far on the project is "virtually all federal money". There are a lot of nitty-gritty details at the link. More on the Caltrain electrification project below.

Friday, March 3: Sacramento and Fresno

Jerry Brown doubles down. From one of the stories included at the link under the artist's rendition at the top of the page:

After years of prep work, Gov. Jerry Brown's finance department decided Friday that California's $64 billion high-speed rail project is ready to lay some track.
The administration approved the rail authority's request to spend $2.6 billion on work in the Central Valley. The decision lets the authority ask the state treasurer's office to sell a portion of the nearly $10 billion in bonds voters approved in 2008 for a bullet train.
However, the first 29-mile segment of track isn't expected to be completed until at least August 2019.
The bullet train's long-term prospects remain clouded because of uncertainty over funding and several pending lawsuits. . . .

I'm not sure if tracks have been laid, but demolition and construction is underway in the Fresno area. An internal Federal Railroad Administration analysis in December found that the train’s first segment is running 50% over budget.

Dignitaries touring construction on the viaduct over the Fresno River didn't seem to be too concerned that they were walking in a dry riverbed during an extended drought. The construction money could have built dams for water storage and flood prevention from this winter's rains.

Monday, March 6: San Francisco

The San Francisco Chronicle reported on the new Transbay Transit Center. It is scheduled to open THIS YEAR. Long before the first 29 miles of high-speed rail is (or was) scheduled to be completed in and near Fresno.

The three-block-long behemoth was envisioned as the Grand Central Station of the West, a dynamic hub for buses and high-speed rail that would draw more than 100,000 visitors a day.
Come opening day, however, there will be no high-speed rail. Instead, for many years, the five-level showcase just south of Mission Street between Second and Beale streets will be little more than the world's most expensive bus station -- serving mainly the 14,000 transbay bus commuters who roll in and out daily on AC Transit.
That reality is starting to sink in and has city officials scrambling -- because without the big crowds that trains were supposed to bring in, there are serious questions about where all the money needed to keep the place secure, clean and well lit will come from.

So, JUST NOW the reality is starting to sink in? Five levels, 3 blocks long, 14,000 bus passengers a day. I wonder if the janitors will pull six-figure overtime pay for sitting in a closet?

Pretty fancy for a bus station

Tuesday, March 7: Washington D.C. and the Bay Area

On Tuesday, the WSJ ran an editorial congratulating Elaine Chao for Chao's Choo-Choo Stop. (Sorry about the paywall.) It provides some sleazy details about the CalTrain electrification project previously mentioned. Obama's Federal Transit Administration chief Carolyn Flowers approved a federal grant for the electrification project two days before President Obama left office. She is now employed by a contractor for the Caltrain project.

How does the electrification of Caltrain connect to high-speed rail? Good question. The bullet train will supposedly link to Caltrain, though that may not be for several decades, if ever, at the current rate of construction. Since the choo choo may never reach the Bay Area due to litigation and funding shortfalls, Bay Area Democrats late last year wrote legislation that would make $600 million of the $10 billion in high-speed rail bonds that voters approved in 2008 available for electrifying Caltrain. This may be unconstitutional as legislators aren't allowed to amend measures passed by voters, and some taxpayers have sued.
Ms. Flowers decided to help her progressive friends in San Francisco on her way out the door by fast-tracking the federal grant for Caltrain. Now she's returned through the other door to collect a piece of the cash. Sacramento is America's western swamp. . .

The Orange County Register also ran an editorial about the entire High Speed Rail project. It includes some interesting information about the State's "cap-and-trade" auctions and the plans to use them to fund the project.

From the very beginning, the California High-Speed Rail Authority's business plans have been based more on hope and fantasy than on sound finance or economics. Proponents seem to have adopted the "in for a penny, in for a pound" strategy: Just grab as much money as you can, as quickly as you can, and start building. Once the track has been laid, there is less likelihood the public will mount strong enough opposition to stop the project, which might be seen as wasteful and cost even more money to tear up the track.

Yes, yes, yes. Make it too expensive to stop! Sacramento started this project in a relatively sparsely-populated, economically-depressed area where they could even get some support from Republican politicians. Opposition to suggested routes came from farmers and small businesses - not from high-powered environmentalists and progressive bigwigs. How many people need to take a bullet train from Shafter to Merced? And why didn't they start with the Los Angeles to Bakersfield segment, where there is currently no direct rail service at all? Because it would be hard.

Wednesday, March 8: Fresno

In the middle of the day, I drove past the support towers under construction for the viaduct intended to carry high speed trains over Cedar Avenue and Highway 99 in the southern part of Fresno. There were some really, really tall cranes standing near the towers, but I saw no work underway.

Friday, March 10

Via J.J. Sefton in the sidebar, there was a tear gas attack on a German train, a few days after an axe attack at a German train station. This could never happen on the future California High Speed Rail system, though. Right?

Are things this bad outside of California?

Years ago, I read a book called Barbarians to Bureaucrats about the rise and fall of corporations. Parallels were drawn to civilizations throughout history. At the end of the typical corporate life cycle, the corporate leadership was described as proceeding from a corrupt bureaucratic stage to an insanity-tinged aristocratic stage. Fiscally irrational behavior and extravagant monument-building are common features of the aristocratic stage.

When I first read the book, I was working for a corporation, but also dealing with a corrupt State agency. I kind of wished that the author had written a similar book about government entities. It occurred to me that infusions of tax money kept the corrupt bureaucratic apparatus, and sometimes some aristocratic insanity, going far longer than would be possible in a market-driven organization. So creative destruction is delayed as the mess gets bigger and bigger.

The State of California seems to have pretty much graduated from a corrupt bureaucracy to the insane aristocratic stage since then. I think that is reflected in some of the developments above.

In summary, officials continue pushing projects like the Transbay Transit Center bus station along with a bullet train from Shafter to Merced even though they have just evacuated roughly 200,000 people because they neglected warnings about the condition of a dam. Additional water storage (like back-up dams) could have avoided current emergency actions around the state to prevent disasters due to spring runoff. Do they think the drought year/flood year cycle is going to end in California? Why isn't water management a higher priority than managing the movement of people?

I know this kind o stuff goes on in other parts of the country, but is there anywhere else (well besides Washington D.C.) that politicians are so disconnected from reality?

Open Thread.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 11:11 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Wow. What a post...

Posted by: HH at March 11, 2017 11:05 AM (DrCtv)

2 Yes yes, while I love the idea of high speed trains as an alternative to air travel, the government will ruin this, like they do everything else.

But stimulus money won't spend itself, so full speed ahead!!

Posted by: BurtTC at March 11, 2017 11:08 AM (Pz4pT)

3 There's a Simpsons episode that explains high speed rail. Seems pretty accurate.

Posted by: shibumi at March 11, 2017 11:08 AM (J5mC3)

4 I have a hard time keeping track,

ISWYDT

Posted by: eyes narrowed at March 11, 2017 11:11 AM (wpC7C)

5 And I read it all. Darn it.

Good morning, Morons and 'ettes.

We had to put our little Chihuahua, Heidi, to sleep yesterday because of aggressive cancer. She was my little shadow for so many years and I'm dreadfully sad.

Posted by: Michael the Deplorable TEXIT at March 11, 2017 11:11 AM (nvMvs)

6 "is there anywhere else (well besides Washington D.C.) that politicians are so disconnected from reality?"

Yes Illinois, "Illinois lawmakers are encouraging the state to be undead-ready by
passing a resolution declaring October to be "Zombie Preparedness
Month."

and Chicago where the Mayor has mortgaged the heating and air-conditioning plants in City Hall: "Buried deep in loan documents were details that spelled out how
mechanical systems in eight city-owned buildings were to be put up as
collateral for the Retrofit One loan. That left open the possibility
that, if financing soured, creditors could seize control of parts of the
ventilation, heating or cooling systems at City Hall, the Chicago
Cultural Center, the Harold Washington Library, the Police Academy and
the 11th District police station on the West Side."
http://secondcitycop.blogspot.com/

Posted by: Al from Chgo at March 11, 2017 11:12 AM (HYf2e)

7 Sounds like a slush fund that, if successful will ensure TSA jobs and expansion.

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at March 11, 2017 11:13 AM (msT6C)

8 "When I first read the book, I was working for a corporation, but also dealing with a corrupt State agency. I kind of wished that the author had written a similar book about government entities. It occurred to me that infusions of tax money kept the corrupt bureaucratic apparatus, and sometimes some aristocratic insanity, going far longer than would be possible in a market-driven organization. So creative destruction is delayed as the mess gets bigger and bigger."

Exactly. I know people who work/have worked in both government and in non-profit organizations, and their argument is that government is no worse than the non-profits when it comes to being non-responsive to the trends and needs of their customers (I'm using the term customer generically here).

I've worked in both too, and no, it's not the same. The biggest difference is the lack of a market incentive, and the lack of any skin in the game for the people who make financial decisions.

If you work for government, you KNOW your next paycheck is, and your next several years of paychecks are, secure.

If you work for a non-profit, the next time your agency screws up, the funding goes away, and EVERYONE is out on the street.

That's a huge difference.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 11, 2017 11:13 AM (Pz4pT)

9 "Into Your Wallet Like a Bullet Train." - The Psychedelic Furs

Posted by: Dang at March 11, 2017 11:13 AM (8b+oT)

10 I know this kind o stuff goes on in other parts of the country, but is there anywhere else (well besides Washington D.C.) that politicians are so disconnected from reality?

I don't think so but there a few that come to mind. Illinois and New York for example. Down here in Florida we have the asinine SunRail boondoggle, which is just South Florida's failed TriRail redux but more expensive.

Posted by: Insomniac - sin valor at March 11, 2017 11:14 AM (ywNoU)

11 This gives me a high-speed schadenboner ...

Posted by: ShainS at March 11, 2017 11:14 AM (mt8X9)

12 All federal money for that boondogle was supposed to be stopped in 1999.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at March 11, 2017 11:14 AM (mpXpK)

13 To be fair, I wasn't just sitting in that closet for hours.

I was snoozing.

Can't rack up all that juicy overtime w/o taking plenty of time for on-the-"job" zzzzzzz's.

Thanks suckers! Er, I mean taxpayers!

Posted by: S.F. janitor with $375k salary at March 11, 2017 11:14 AM (riF5p)

14 Posted by: Al from Chgo at March 11, 2017 11:12 AM (HYf2e)

Hmmm....Haven't lived here long have you? That is normal for Illinois.

Posted by: Tim in Illinois at March 11, 2017 11:15 AM (d76uN)

15 Robert Moses always said that once you drive that first stake they'll never make you pull it up.

Posted by: Kodos the Executioner at March 11, 2017 11:15 AM (bAvOE)

16 Thanks suckers! Er, I mean taxpayers!
Posted by: S.F. janitor with $375k salary at March 11, 2017 11:14 AM (riF5p)

We're all just tax cattle, sheep to be shorn.

Posted by: Insomniac - sin valor at March 11, 2017 11:15 AM (ywNoU)

17 KT this is outstanding (as have been your other "below the gardening thread" snippets in the past).

You oughta be a regular weekday meat-and-potatoes politix coblog.

In my widely disregarded opinion.

Posted by: rhomboid at March 11, 2017 11:16 AM (QDnY+)

18 If elected and government officials, including judges could be sued for their ineptitude and brazen disregard for the law we'd be a lot less prone to his kind of buffoonery.

Posted by: CrotchetyOldJarhead at March 11, 2017 11:16 AM (msT6C)

19 High speed rail would be awesome for cross-country if air travel weren't so cheap and if it didn't have to share the lines with freight. I'd do Chicago to Denver in a day (instead of a couple hours on a plane) if the price were comparable and I could get up, walk around, look at scenery, get meals in the dining car, etc.

Posted by: hogmartin at March 11, 2017 11:16 AM (8nWyX)

20 Sure must be nice to be up and running in your new job. Helps when you marry a Turtle.

Posted by: Trump nominees in waiting at March 11, 2017 11:16 AM (OU4q6)

21 Polli, you hear me to coming up with the winning nic on the last thread.
Atta girl.

Gone till later.

Posted by: teej at March 11, 2017 11:16 AM (Jd44p)

22 High speed rail: 19th century technology at 21st century costs.

Posted by: Kodos the Executioner at March 11, 2017 11:17 AM (bAvOE)

23 Once the track has been laid, there is less likelihood the public will mount strong enough opposition to stop the project, which might be seen as wasteful and cost even more money to tear up the track.

==========

Let's call it ObamaRail!

Posted by: ShainS at March 11, 2017 11:17 AM (mt8X9)

24 Anything new on Cali sliding into the ocean?

Just sayin.

Posted by: GW denier but San Andreas Fault supporter at March 11, 2017 11:17 AM (1G2ms)

25 Massachusetts' Big Dig also comes to mind.

Posted by: Insomniac - sin valor at March 11, 2017 11:18 AM (ywNoU)

26 Again I want to draw attention to the SCOTUS case that essentially destroys jury trials for judges decisions. All it takes is a lawyer able to convince a judge that a juror was racist ever to get a verdict negated, and a new trial. Racist isn't even described or defined in the decision.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 11, 2017 11:19 AM (39g3+)

27 24 Anything new on Cali sliding into the ocean?

Just sayin.
Posted by: GW denier but San Andreas Fault supporter at March 11, 2017 11:17 AM (1G2ms)

Alas no.

Posted by: Maynard James Keenan at March 11, 2017 11:19 AM (ywNoU)

28 Proponents seem to have adopted the "in for a penny, in for a pound" strategy: Just grab as much money as you can, as quickly as you can, and start building. Once the track has been laid, there is less likelihood the public will mount strong enough opposition to stop the project, which might be seen as wasteful and cost even more money to tear up the track.

Liberals do this a lot. Create facts on the ground, then claim that it is too late/impossible to roll back the changes. With Obamacare, with "refugees", with gay "marriage".

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at March 11, 2017 11:20 AM (vRcUp)

29 I know this kind o stuff goes on in other parts of the country, but is there anywhere else (well besides Washington D.C.) that politicians are so disconnected from reality?

This is a trick question, isn't it? I'd say Mars, but y'all would probably mock me ...

Posted by: Maxine Waters at March 11, 2017 11:21 AM (mt8X9)

30 I once told everyone I met - especially the foaming enviro-weenies - that I would start planting cycads and ginkos on the theory that if I recreate the Cretaceous environment, the dinosaurs would return.

There was lots of confusion fading into butthurt during that part of my life.

Posted by: Kindltot at March 11, 2017 11:21 AM (WQX/u)

31 So, in the UK city of Berkshire [400,000+], police are not interested in shoplifters who take less than $120 dollars per incident.

They will not come out, and instead, make the store owner fill out a form. I read the comments to the original story; if there is a fracas with a criminal, the store owner, not the criminal, is usually charged with a crime. Becuase... store owners have $$$, criminals do not.

BTW, this seems like a nice area. Not far from London, and home to Windsor castle.

Posted by: shibumi at March 11, 2017 11:21 AM (J5mC3)

32 According to BART, he's just one of 49 janitors who made over $100,000 in 2015.

So what were the other 48 doing?

Posted by: Kodos the Executioner at March 11, 2017 11:22 AM (bAvOE)

33 Why the fuck should my federal tax dollars be spent on this shit in California? I don't even like going there for business anymore from where I live in Texas.

Posted by: Aviator at March 11, 2017 11:22 AM (ZBA65)

34 I don't think so but there a few that come to mind. Illinois and New York for example. Down here in Florida we have the asinine SunRail boondoggle, which is just South Florida's failed TriRail redux but more expensive.
Posted by: Insomniac - sin valor at March 11, 2017 11:14 AM (ywNoU)

Yeah, I know Illnoise rivals Californica when it comes to corrupt state government. Here in Missouri, our state government is constantly compared to Illnoise, with the news idiots saying "how come we can't have nice things like they have on the other side of the river?"

Well, because we don't allow the state government to deficit spend. And we're not controlled by Democrats.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 11, 2017 11:22 AM (Pz4pT)

35 Jerry Brown doubles down.

Of course. It's what he does.

Posted by: rickl at March 11, 2017 11:23 AM (sdi6R)

36 Having been a long time "fan" (not really) of this thing, how can it even exist. What amounts of money are going to just keep it running, all 26 miles or whatever.... The great Merced to Chowchilla express "we will get you there in no time"....The 100 billion or more could make Amtrak in that area even have a complete route, without a bus ride thrown in. And I'd bet in the end Amtrak probably would be just as fast, with all the stops this highspeed rail is suppose to do.

Posted by: Colin at March 11, 2017 11:23 AM (yjhJj)

37 Trains are clean and progressive and they have them in Europe!
Typical Left Winger

Posted by: steevy at March 11, 2017 11:24 AM (r/0kC)

38 5 And I read it all. Darn it.

Good morning, Morons and 'ettes.

We had to put our little Chihuahua, Heidi, to sleep yesterday because of aggressive cancer. She was my little shadow for so many years and I'm dreadfully sad.
Posted by: Michael the Deplorable TEXIT at March 11, 2017 11:11 AM (nvMvs)

So terribly sorry about your loss. It hurts like hell losing a pet member of the family.

Posted by: Ladylibertarian at March 11, 2017 11:24 AM (TdMsT)

39 KT, as others have quickly commented, IL, NY and a few other states are competing with CA in the corrupt extravagant idiocy department.

But I have a feeling there is something more toxic, more arrogant, more precisely contrary to essential and unique American civic values, about CA's insanity.

Maybe it's just the exuberant confidence of the racism, the unscientific cultism ("environmentalism"), the brazen authoritarianism. Maybe it's the evil, sickening social transformation of replacing a real middle class, mostly, with unionized and over-compensated public workers (incl. fire and police). Maybe it's the complete control of the state by a small segment of these workers (mostly the teachers' union), which I don't think is quite as pronounced in NY and IL.

Or maybe it's the suicidal stupidity of CA voters (who, BTW, actually approved the idiotic train, not to mention an idiotic stem-cell research institute, and a plastic bag ban, and serial massive and pointless infringements on the 2nd amendment, etc.).

Gotta head off to the El Centro airshow (Blue Angels' inaugural show of their season), but I'd love to relate the mind-boggling details of a neighborhood meeting last year, at which the local (stupid, seat-warming, useless) Dem congressman's rep said a few words.

Actually, I know what "it" is. It's the seizure of the most beautiful, richly endowed, interesting state in the country by that country's worst trends, civic diseases, and infections - after decades of glorious prosperity and freedom, and fun. You might have to have grown up in CA's glory years to feel the anger and bitterness and despair at what it has become.

Posted by: rhomboid at March 11, 2017 11:24 AM (QDnY+)

40 My older brother has been one of the Main Contractors on the budget side of this project for years. He is in Sacramento every week (from his home in San Diego) to support this behemoth.

The only way it gets built, is if they make it too big to fail... AND THEY KNOW IT.

They want to spend so much money now, that anyone cancelling the project will then be seen as to being wasting money...

When the projections for the project show its will NEVER make money... it will NEVER pay back the investment... and those are the PRO side numbers.

Needless to say, my Brother and I do not talk about this project anymore.... in order to keep peace in the family.

Posted by: Don Q. at March 11, 2017 11:25 AM (NgKpN)

41 This isn't a matter of interstate commerce, so why is Federal money involved?

Stop this, here and now.

Posted by: Kodos the Executioner at March 11, 2017 11:25 AM (bAvOE)

42
High speed rail: 19th century technology at 21st century costs.
Posted by: Kodos the Executioner

Just like windmills.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at March 11, 2017 11:26 AM (IqV8l)

43 Actually, I know what "it" is. It's the seizure of the most beautiful, richly endowed, interesting state in the country by that country's worst trends, civic diseases, and infections - after decades of glorious prosperity and freedom, and fun. You might have to have grown up in CA's glory years to feel the anger and bitterness and despair at what it has become.
Posted by: rhomboid at March 11, 2017 11:24 AM (QDnY+)

VERY well said...

Posted by: Don Q. at March 11, 2017 11:26 AM (NgKpN)

44 26 Again I want to draw attention to the SCOTUS case that essentially destroys jury trials for judges decisions. All it takes is a lawyer able to convince a judge that a juror was racist ever to get a verdict negated, and a new trial. Racist isn't even described or defined in the decision.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 11, 2017 11:19 AM (39g3+)

===========

Think I heard Rush talking about that.

And ... since all whites are inherently racist, if a juror was ever white ...

Posted by: ShainS at March 11, 2017 11:26 AM (mt8X9)

45 a high priority legacy project for Gov. Jerry Brown, is on a fast track to completion.

-
What part of "Jerry Brown" don't you understand?

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks. Now worse than Hitler! at March 11, 2017 11:27 AM (Nwg0u)

46 Again I want to draw attention to the SCOTUS case that essentially destroys jury trials for judges decisions. All it takes is a lawyer able to convince a judge that a juror was racist ever to get a verdict negated, and a new trial. Racist isn't even described or defined in the decision.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 11, 2017 11:19 AM (39g3+)

I know lawyers don't like when we talk about lawyers, but dammit, this is as clear a breach of the "contract" we signed with these legal nitwits.

We get to decide this stuff, not you.

And if you play this out to its logical conclusion, the easiest way to a lawless society is when only lawyers are allowed to make and interpret the law.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 11, 2017 11:28 AM (Pz4pT)

47 The project isn't even what the original voters approved, that's the worst part of it....The voters were sold a bill of goods, and for some reason California voters just believe everything they are told by Brown and company.. I hate it when I see someone write that the voters approved it.

Posted by: Colin at March 11, 2017 11:28 AM (yjhJj)

48 Did not read the whole thing because, do not care to load my brain up with all the details on lib rail fail.

When I was younger, a child who rode Disney's monorail when it was new, I envisioned automated (not necessarily mass) transportation as a great thing. Getting from here to there as easily as entering an address in the URL field on a browser. Drunkenly slurring "Home, Jeeves," and the car does the rest.

The disadvantages began gradually making themselves known, but, even though I truly enjoy manually navigating old roads, on long, long Interstate drives, I still sometimes could wish for automation so I could sleep, or web-browse.

*

I did a 30-panel collage-cartoon, of sorts, exploring the ideas of mass- and automated-transport. When you have half a day to read it (thick going), you might (or might not) enjoy my illustrated musings:

Getting from Here to There
http://bit.ly/here2there-01

Posted by: mindful webworker, hitchhiking at March 11, 2017 11:29 AM (/tG8l)

49 "Fast track" state construction project: eternity minus a week vs. eternity minus a day.

Posted by: Kodos the Executioner at March 11, 2017 11:29 AM (bAvOE)

50 High speed rail: 19th century technology at 21st century costs.
Posted by: Kodos the Executioner

Just like windmills.
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at March 11, 2017 11:26 AM (IqV8l)

Drive up highway 58 between Bakersfield and the Desert... and you will get to see 100s of derelict windmills...

They sit there, broken... because you don't get tax credits for fixing windmills, only building new ones... so when they break, and they do, they don't bother... they just leave it there...

Its a stark Monument to the stupidity of those who are making us do things, for our own good...

Posted by: Don Q. at March 11, 2017 11:29 AM (NgKpN)

51 We had to put our little Chihuahua, Heidi, to sleep yesterday because of aggressive cancer. She was my little shadow for so many years and I'm dreadfully sad.

Posted by: Michael the Deplorable TEXIT at March 11, 2017 11:11 AM (nvMvs)

Condolences, Michael.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 11, 2017 11:30 AM (WDdjT)

52 Americans, with primitive tools, managed to build a railroad from sea to shining sea in the hostile territory that was the U.S. in the 1860's. Took 6 years, IIRC.

How far some have fallen.

Posted by: Joe Mama at March 11, 2017 11:30 AM (M5NPS)

53 I know this kind o stuff goes on in other parts of the country, but is there anywhere else (well besides Washington D.C.) that politicians are so disconnected from reality?

---

Obama's last minute legacy National Monuments!

Unwanted by those who live in the states (Utah, Maine, probably others too), these now federal lands are taken from state tax rolls, and 'given' to the cash-strapped DOI/NPS for supposed management, with no increase in budget to do so.

Poor management is the best forseeable outcome, unless President Trump (Hillary Clinton will never be President!) makes history by revoking these federal land takings and returning them to their States.

Posted by: hambone at March 11, 2017 11:31 AM (3hIZX)

54 Actually, I know what "it" is. It's the seizure of the most beautiful, richly endowed, interesting state in the country by that country's worst trends, civic diseases, and infections - after decades of glorious prosperity and freedom, and fun. You might have to have grown up in CA's glory years to feel the anger and bitterness and despair at what it has become.
Posted by: rhomboid

Perhaps the only purpose of California is to serve as an early warning to the rest of the nation.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at March 11, 2017 11:31 AM (vRcUp)

55 We had to put our little Chihuahua, Heidi, to sleep yesterday because of aggressive cancer. She was my little shadow for so many years and I'm dreadfully sad.

Posted by: Michael the Deplorable TEXIT at March 11, 2017 11:11 AM (nvMvs)

You gave her the last, and hardest, gift of love. Condolences.

Posted by: Kodos the Executioner at March 11, 2017 11:32 AM (bAvOE)

56 i love how dianne feinstein's husband will make a billion dollars off this......

Posted by: phoenixgirl..spring training at March 11, 2017 11:32 AM (0O7c5)

57 31 So, in the UK city of Berkshire [400,000+], police are not interested in shoplifters who take less than $120 dollars per incident.

Posted by: shibumi at March 11, 2017 11:21 AM (J5mC3)

=======

Broken Windows theory has been proven to work, but Lefties never let facts get in the way of their grand utopias ...

Posted by: ShainS at March 11, 2017 11:33 AM (mt8X9)

58 Maybe I shouldn't get so upset about this project, I don't live in California. But its just insane to see this going on. I have been following it for a long time, and its been a joke from the beginning. 100 billion, 200 billion who knows what it would take to ever finish it...Of course it never will be!

Posted by: Colin at March 11, 2017 11:33 AM (yjhJj)

59 What they need to do is turn the project over to Maxine Waters. She'll straighten it out.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks. Now worse than Hitler! at March 11, 2017 11:34 AM (Nwg0u)

60 High speed rail: 19th century technology at 21st century costs.
Posted by: Kodos the Executioner

Just like windmills.
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at March 11, 2017 11:26 AM (IqV8l)

Drive up highway 58 between Bakersfield and the Desert... and you will get to see 100s of derelict windmills...

They sit there, broken... because you don't get tax credits for fixing windmills, only building new ones... so when they break, and they do, they don't bother... they just leave it there...

Its a stark Monument to the stupidity of those who are making us do things, for our own good...
Posted by: Don Q. at March 11, 2017 11:29 AM (NgKpN)

Stimulus money keeps being spent at a rate of... what, 800 billion a year? So yeah, new stuff MUST get built. That's who paid for the Obama Administration, the shovel-ready union controlled businesses like construction, and the newfangled tech idiots who build windmills and solar panels.

Maintenance costs? Oh hell no, they weren't on the original gravy train, so that 800 billion is going to keep being spent on the people who originally bought and owned the Congresscritters who keep funding it.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 11, 2017 11:34 AM (Pz4pT)

61 Americans, with primitive tools, managed to build a railroad from sea to shining sea in the hostile territory that was the U.S. in the 1860's. Took 6 years, IIRC.

"Dock that Chink a day's wages for sleeping on the job!" - Taggert

Posted by: Kodos the Executioner at March 11, 2017 11:34 AM (bAvOE)

62
How far some have fallen.
Posted by: Joe Mama

It's "not who we are"...unfortunately.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at March 11, 2017 11:35 AM (IqV8l)

63 I went back and read the whole thing. Great post, KT.

And my condolences, Michael.

Posted by: rickl at March 11, 2017 11:35 AM (sdi6R)

64 Wow. What a post...

My schadenboner is painful.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at March 11, 2017 11:35 AM (LTHVh)

65 Perhaps the only purpose of California is to serve as an early warning to the rest of the nation.

-
A canary in kook mine.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks. Now worse than Hitler! at March 11, 2017 11:35 AM (Nwg0u)

66 What keeps Corrupt Extravagancy going (just like it did in the old days with the Kings and Czars) is that the bigger the project, the easier it is for everyone in the bureaucracy to carve out a chunk for themselves and each have a bit of the money sent their way. The really well connected bureaucrats are able to build entire fiefdoms based on their ability to direct the fountains of free money.

Remember the phrase, "Potemkin Villages"? Potemkin was a favorite of Czarina Catherine II, and had received a great deal of money from her in order to rebuild wartorn areas in the Ukraine and Crimea. Of course, he used it in the same way that all ministers and bureaucrats have used similar sums ever since - he had a great time with it. When Catherine II made an unannounced visit to the region, he hired a group of supporters to construct great looking street fronts out of plywood and other scrap materials that would look good for her while she drove past in her Royal Carriage. Then, once she passed they would quickly tear them down and race 20 miles down the road to rebuild it for the next days viewing.

And that's how the game has been played ever since.

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 11, 2017 11:36 AM (V2Yro)

67 http://bit.ly/2nqDgJF
=====
All of a sudden Nate(Bad Haircut)Silver gets it

Posted by: EVLINC! at March 11, 2017 11:36 AM (y3aQB)

68 Perhaps the only purpose of California is to serve as an early warning to the rest of the nation.
Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at March 11, 2017 11:31 AM (vRcUp)

Look at the color map from the election. That's a pretty good indicator of the states that got the message, and the ones that did not.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 11, 2017 11:36 AM (Pz4pT)

69 I understand the lure of bullet trains for politicians.

Between the graft, and under the table land buys, and assigning who gets the franchise-

it's like Christmas every day with taxpayer money.

But, with everybody owning an automobile. Meh.

Not much need in state cuz you're going to have the same security issues as flying. And more, since you've got miles of unmonitored track. The solution to this is obviously invite more unveiled people in from terrorist states.

Even in Texas, where they're firing up a bullet train proposal that appears to be getting off the ground, and you have lots of ranch land between big cities,

the problem becomes impossible as you approach the big cities...Suburbs galore.

If I have to drive an hour in traffic to get to say the Dallas train station to visit Houston and then go through airport type nonsense,

I'm just going to drive my car.

This isn't Japan where most/many people don't own cars and the train/subway/public transportation system was already baked into the cake.

It literally won't work....ever.

Stupid idea for the taxpayers. Awesome idea for the graft and bribe takers.

Posted by: naturalfake at March 11, 2017 11:37 AM (9q7Dl)

70 >>>Maybe I shouldn't get so upset about this project, I don't live in California.

As long as federal $ aren't funding it, I'm all for them doubling down on stupid and ruining themselves at an accelerated rate.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at March 11, 2017 11:37 AM (vRcUp)

71 And if you play this out to its logical conclusion, the easiest way to a lawless society is when only lawyers are allowed to make and interpret the law.

I just cannot believe that any judge would even consider this, its a total violation of the entire principle of the jury box being sacred, of English Common Law, and the principles of a trial by jury of your peers. Now a judge gets to decide not if the case was wrong, or mistrial, or some rights were violated, but just if someone was ever racist?

This is straight up religion being imposed on the law, the leftist SJW religion. Let's say someone is a complete raging Boss Hogg bigot. Does that mean the jury didn't rule correctly, or that its anyone's business but the jury's?

The entire point of the process where lawyers can dismiss jurors is to clear out problematic jurors. Now there's a retroactive trick to ignore jurors entirely because one may have at one point been racist, however the judge wants to define that? This is inconceivable to me.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 11, 2017 11:38 AM (39g3+)

72 There will be tons of case studies on this debacle - on the fallacy of "build it and they will come" on these major municipal projects. Rail in the US is a losing proposition. Hence the federal support for rail, especially Amtrak. Add on to that this dream of "high speed" rail. For "high speed", you need long distances between stops, and few stops. The more stops, the less time the train has to run at full speed.

Another problem is funding. Be it California borrowing/bonding money, or better yet Uncle Sam -- these bonds are borrowed for terms of 20 or 30 years. In 10 years -what is going to be the condition of the rail? Repairs? Will it (still) be viable? Have any revenue coming in?

Meanwhile Jane and Joe Taxpayer have their taxes going towards debt service. Is this really a smart investment of their money? Especially if Jane Joe never get a chance to utilize said train service?

I make this same argument for the $1 Trillion dollar infrastructure investment Trump is making. We are going to borrow for 20-30 years for a road paving that will last 5 years.

Posted by: Our Country is Screwed at March 11, 2017 11:38 AM (jxbfJ)

73 a few months back, i was going to attempt to secretly purchase the family homestead in california from my estranged uncle.......it was mostly for sentimental reasons......it had been in the family for 3 generations....but there was a bit of "fuck you asshole" involved.....my brother talked me out of it.....reminding me of what sentimentality was blinding me from....ca is no longer a great state.....it's not the place from my youth......and i couldn't legally bring my guns with me.....

Posted by: phoenixgirl..spring training at March 11, 2017 11:40 AM (0O7c5)

74 The bullet train project is too big to fail.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks. Now worse than Hitler! at March 11, 2017 11:41 AM (Nwg0u)

75 On a smaller scale, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett has been pushing his downtown trolley car. Nevermind he can't pay his police force but we'll build a trolley and dug up roads and move millions of dollars worth of underground utilities to put in tracks. In Northern climate city, where snow gets pushed to the sides of the roads, right where they are putting the tracks. And like CA, lets start with a route that goes nowhere so we have to expand it right away and get more money. DemoRats Boondoggles R Us...

Posted by: Janir at March 11, 2017 11:41 AM (Lk5qN)

76 It seems like a high speed train has been in the works since the late 1990's.

Posted by: Phone of Widespread Pepe at March 11, 2017 11:41 AM (zTvDU)

77 Holy crap... just read the sidebar about the Supreme decision...

So now Jury Deliberations can be overturned if anyone says anything biased in the Jury room...

So now? Want to get the Perp Off? Say something biased about them....

/facepalm

Posted by: Don Q. at March 11, 2017 11:42 AM (NgKpN)

78 Massachusetts' Big Dig also comes to mind.
Posted by: Insomniac - sin valor

This was one of the things that came to mind right away. I used to travel up to Massachusetts in the 90's a lot, because our company was making odor control adsorbers for sewage lift pump stations, as all the sewage from the suburbs was being pumped to the new state of the art sewage plant on Deer Island.
The Big Dig: what a boondoggle.

I remember seeing a PBS special pointing out what was going on, and how this was "the future" in terms of rebuilding America's big cities.
Actually, I thought "this will NEVER happen again" because it was just too expensive. It was supposed to cost something like $3.8 Billion, and ended up something over $15 Billion.

California never ceases to amaze and astound me as to just how STUPID their political class is. The people there must just love getting buggered up the ass.

Posted by: Bossy Conservative....outlaw in America at March 11, 2017 11:43 AM (S6Pax)

79 if you've seen the ruination of landscape that bart has done......

Posted by: phoenixgirl..spring training at March 11, 2017 11:43 AM (0O7c5)

80 The fundamental reason behind making the Jury Deliberation process unassailable was never moral so much as it was simply practical; if you allow appeals based on that, you allow so many appeals that the system may well become hopelessly clogged and grind to a halt.

The problem is not that it moves the system to the "left" or to the "right" - the problem is that it can ruin the system completely.

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 11, 2017 11:43 AM (V2Yro)

81 Didn't Amtrak just get stuck in the snow?

Posted by: DaveA at March 11, 2017 11:43 AM (8J/Te)

82 This is happening here in Hawai'i. A rail system is being built in Honolulu that has suffered delays, massive cost overruns and businesses and homes being destroyed. Our politicians (do I have to add, are Democrats) also are willing to do sink the future of Honolulu on this wasteful project. The claim also is it is too late to stop this mess. They have rolling stock with not an inch of rail laid down.

Posted by: Greg Leong at March 11, 2017 11:43 AM (6iqYj)

83 Honestly, though if Trump did a claw-back of Obama's $9T graftastic bribe give-away to Democrat scumbags,

I'd be perfectly willing to let him do whatever infrastructure idea tickles his fancy,

up to and including Mt. Trumpmore.

In fact, he needs to start talking about that very thing, to get the Dims off their asses and go along with his plans...and it goes without saying the GOPe too.

And then do the clawback anyway.

Posted by: naturalfake at March 11, 2017 11:44 AM (9q7Dl)

84 76 It seems like a high speed train has been in the works since the late 1990's.
Posted by: Phone of Widespread Pepe at March 11, 2017 11:41 AM (zTvDU)

Yes, but the logical evolution of the Train... is to eventually make a FLYING Train... think of it!

One without Tracks at all!!!! They'd just fly from place to place, holding hundreds of people...

Wow... what a great idea...

Dam.... I need to fly to Sacramento to pitch this idea... Siri! get show me flights to ....

Posted by: Don Q. at March 11, 2017 11:45 AM (NgKpN)

85 I know this kind o stuff goes on in other parts of the country, but is there anywhere else (well besides Washington D.C.) that politicians are so disconnected from reality?

It's everywhere. In my hometown the then mayor, who was (ostensibly) a Republican, used TARP funds to build a park. The "park", which cost about a half-million, sits in where a building in downtown used to be...it's approximately 50'x125' and consists of some greenery, two benches, and a "waterfall wall".

Here's a giggle street view: https://tinyurl.com/he7wffb

After that boondoogle, even the R's in town voted in the D challenger at the next election. He ran on eliminating wasteful spending.

Posted by: Country Singer at March 11, 2017 11:46 AM (GUBah)

86 71 And if you play this out to its logical conclusion, the easiest way to a lawless society is when only lawyers are allowed to make and interpret the law.

I just cannot believe that any judge would even consider this, its a total violation of the entire principle of the jury box being sacred, of English Common Law, and the principles of a trial by jury of your peers. Now a judge gets to decide not if the case was wrong, or mistrial, or some rights were violated, but just if someone was ever racist?

This is straight up religion being imposed on the law, the leftist SJW religion. Let's say someone is a complete raging Boss Hogg bigot. Does that mean the jury didn't rule correctly, or that its anyone's business but the jury's?

The entire point of the process where lawyers can dismiss jurors is to clear out problematic jurors. Now there's a retroactive trick to ignore jurors entirely because one may have at one point been racist, however the judge wants to define that? This is inconceivable to me.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 11, 2017 11:38 AM (39g3+)

The goal has been and continues to be a shift to administrative courts by 2020-2025. This is the endgame our overlords have in mind.

For an idea of how these courts would look and operate look into juvenile court systems and the courts where DFCS and CPS operate. A hellish nightmare.

Posted by: Widespread Pepe at March 11, 2017 11:46 AM (zTvDU)

87 Greetings:

I prefer "Governor Bullethead's Bullettrain".

Posted by: 11B40 at March 11, 2017 11:47 AM (evgyj)

88 Look at the color map from the election. That's a pretty good indicator of the states that got the message, and the ones that did not.
Posted by: BurtTC

When it comes to just about every state though the county level map shows much more. California is no exception.

Shame it can't be broken up into about three states. Two red and one blue.

Posted by: E Depluribus Unum at March 11, 2017 11:47 AM (ZFUt7)

89 Bullet trains just don't do it for me. I want flying trains.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks. Now worse than Hitler! at March 11, 2017 11:47 AM (Nwg0u)

90 http://cnn.it/2nqBRmh
----
Intruder breaches White House grounds, arrested near residence entrance

Posted by: EVLINC! at March 11, 2017 11:50 AM (y3aQB)

91 If you want to know how the train will be in the future, just look at the BART system. Poorly managed, janitors (who rarely even show up) making 6 figures and bennies, every rule is broken while on the trains (eating, drinking, littering), people are complete louts, no cops, security cameras not hooked up, I could go on.

Posted by: navybrat at March 11, 2017 11:51 AM (w7KSn)

92 Greetings:

California will always have the thirteen year history of the replacement of the eastern span of the Bay Bridge and the billions that flowed and flowed some more while a quarter of a million drivers went back and forth daily over a bridge that wasn't "seismically sound".

Posted by: 11B40 at March 11, 2017 11:51 AM (evgyj)

93 Light rail, that's where the answer lies, light rail!

Baltimore, Phoenix, Charlotte

Curiously, 'rail' rhymes with 'fail'

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at March 11, 2017 11:52 AM (ZO497)

94 The goal has been and continues to be a shift to administrative courts by 2020-2025. This is the endgame our overlords have in mind.

For an idea of how these courts would look and operate look into juvenile court systems and the courts where DFCS and CPS operate. A hellish nightmare.
Posted by: Widespread Pepe at
March 11, 2017 11:46 AM (zTvDU)

Tyranny of a Judiciary? Is there even a term for Rule by Judges?

Posted by: Don Q. at March 11, 2017 11:53 AM (NgKpN)

95 Am I the only one reminded of the post-WW2 south pacific Cargo Cults? They built air strips, control towers, and non-functional radio headsets out of bamboo and binder twine in hopes that cargo planes would land and dispense goodies.

Posted by: Steve Poling at March 11, 2017 11:53 AM (db5YN)

96 Light rail, that's where the answer lies, light rail!

Light rail's OK, but let me tell you what put North Haverbrook on the map.

Posted by: Lyle Langley at March 11, 2017 11:54 AM (wpC7C)

97 It has no chance of ever recovering the costs

Posted by: Skip at March 11, 2017 11:54 AM (HDU3V)

98 If you want to know how the train will be in the future, just look at the BART system. Poorly managed, janitors (who rarely even show up) making 6 figures and bennies, every rule is broken while on the trains (eating, drinking, littering), people are complete louts, no cops, security cameras not hooked up, I could go on.
Posted by: navybrat
--

My favorite BART incident was when it simply ran off of the end of track.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at March 11, 2017 11:54 AM (ZO497)

99 Having worked for more than 3 decades in public service as a government employee, it is my experience that, like all parasitic organisms, demon government will attack itself once it senses the host is stripped to the bones and dead.

Posted by: Taqyia2Me - Deplorubus Unum at March 11, 2017 11:55 AM (Ftuf+)

100 A recent story emerged of a BART janitor who more than doubled his base salary with overtime and was pulling down a quarter million per year, while sleeping in a closet.
A quarter mil per year, that is what the POTUS used to make as salary, not that long ago.
And no one batted an eye.
He's likely still there.

Posted by: navybrat at March 11, 2017 11:55 AM (w7KSn)

101 California is just envious of The Big Dig.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at March 11, 2017 11:55 AM (ZO497)

102 71
This is straight up religion being imposed on the law, the leftist SJW religion.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 11, 2017 11:38 AM (39g3+)

And it's only the beginning. Law schools are churning out SJW judges by the thousands. Imagine what it will be like a generation from now.

Posted by: rickl at March 11, 2017 11:55 AM (sdi6R)

103 >>Intruder breaches White House grounds, arrested near residence entrance

Hillary needs to get use to the fact she isn't President.

Posted by: Aviator at March 11, 2017 11:55 AM (ZBA65)

104 You know what we can't build? A wall. Because it's just too damn expensive.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks. Now worse than Hitler! at March 11, 2017 11:56 AM (Nwg0u)

105 Meanwhile, the counties below the Oroville Dam are still under an evacuation warning as the lake levels continue to rise. They'll likely be using the horribly broken spillway again within a week, thereby a) resuming the erosion of the hill and b) dumping hundred of thousands of cubic yards of debris back into the diversion pool causing c) the hydraulic plant--the only current safe method of outflow--to shut down again. So, still boned.

But, hey: HIGH SPEED RAIL.

Posted by: antisocial justice beatnik at March 11, 2017 11:57 AM (V4Qfo)

106 Didn't Detroit just finish the first part of their trolley system, I'm sure they can afford much more. Probably miles and miles more.

Posted by: Colin at March 11, 2017 11:57 AM (PLCSu)

107 In fact, he needs to start talking about that very thing, to get the
Dims off their asses and go along with his plans...and it goes without
saying the GOPe too.
---
Unfortunately it doesn't go without saying that he needs to beat the GOPe into line every single time.

Because when he gives them any leeway, much less support, you'll get crap like the Ryan plan to protect obamacare.

Posted by: Methos, back to Let It Burn at March 11, 2017 11:59 AM (3Liv/)

108 Why isn't water management a higher priority than managing the movement of people?

========
Probably for the Instapundit reason: Insufficient opportunities for graft.

Posted by: Vlad the Impaler, whittling away like mad at March 11, 2017 11:59 AM (eGPQr)

109 Kritarchy.... rule of Judges...

Damn... did not know there was even a term for it...

Posted by: Don Q. at March 11, 2017 11:59 AM (NgKpN)

110 Well, sir, there's nothing on earth

Like a genuine, bona fide

Electrified, six-car monorail

What'd I say?Monorail

What's it called?

Monorail

That's right! MonorailMonorail

Monorail

Monorail

Posted by: Colin at March 11, 2017 12:00 PM (PLCSu)

111 I live in Merced. Never in my life have I wanted to go to Shafter.

Posted by: Jaqen H'ghar at March 11, 2017 12:00 PM (5fSr7)

112 111 I live in Merced. Never in my life have I wanted to go to Shafter.
Posted by: Jaqen H'ghar at March 11, 2017 12:00 PM (5fSr7)

DAMN!!!! A LOCAL????

Atwater here.... LOL...

Posted by: Don Q. at March 11, 2017 12:02 PM (NgKpN)

113 111 I live in Merced. Never in my life have I wanted to go to Shafter.
Posted by: Jaqen H'ghar at March 11, 2017 12:00 PM (5fSr7)

So you won't be riding the Chowchilla Express?

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at March 11, 2017 12:03 PM (SRKgf)

114
Cincinnati Streetcar

Streetcar!

http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/streetcar/

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at March 11, 2017 12:04 PM (IqV8l)

115 California could be so great ... too bad Democrats and Hollywood "commies" work so hard to screw it up. Still might be nice to retire up in the mountains somewhere, not too far from the coast, in a perfect climate area. Any places like that left? Terrible place to do business though ... it would seem.

Boondoggles ... the players got all the boon, and the taxpayer gets the doggle rammed up sideways. They spent a billion on my power plant on NextGen plans to bury CO2 (idiots) ... but that stalled. Hopefully not too late to go back to just scrubbing the soot. IL has lots of coal, could dig us out of the worst credit rating in the country if they would dig up coal instead of burying CO2.

Posted by: illiniwek at March 11, 2017 12:04 PM (BrMft)

116 I live in Merced. Never in my life have I wanted to go to Shafter.

Posted by: Jaqen H'ghar at March 11, 2017 12:00 PM (5fSr7)

Not even once at highspeed.. Just think 155 miles in minutes (well maybe hours) With all the luxury that the train will give you, even a seat.

Posted by: Colin at March 11, 2017 12:04 PM (PLCSu)

117 Not for Springfield. It's more of a Shelbyville idea.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at March 11, 2017 12:04 PM (VdICR)

118 Congress wants to decide which rocket engine is used on a new booster.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/zzpqbmn

Seriously, read it. This is not off-topic for this thread.

Posted by: rickl at March 11, 2017 12:04 PM (sdi6R)

119 So they are going to spend $64 billion (probably double that) on a super high tech rail system (that is in actuality circa 1964, shhh don't tell anyone) and it looks like this?
https://goo.gl/l1fcb7
this could easily be 1869 if you photoshopped out the cell phones.

I'm from the government and I'm here to help.

Posted by: Nathan R. Jessup at March 11, 2017 12:05 PM (TixTl)

120 After years of prep work, Gov. Jerry Brown's finance department decided
Friday that California's $64 billion high-speed rail project is ready to
lay some track.

Yeah, but Reality is about to lay some pipe.

IFKWIMAITYD.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at March 11, 2017 12:05 PM (SRKgf)

121 Cincinnati Streetcar
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at March 11, 2017 12:04 PM (IqV8l)

That kind of sounds like something unpleasant and degrading that you'd find on Urban Dictionary.

Posted by: hogmartin at March 11, 2017 12:06 PM (8nWyX)

122 Didn't Detroit just finish the first part of their trolley system, I'm sure they can afford much more. Probably miles and miles more.
Posted by: Colin
----------

Heh. The 'successful' trolley system in Charlotte was touted by Obama as the qualifier for the appointment of Charlotte mayor Anthony Foxx as Sec. of Transportation.

Except, and no one pointed this out, the trolley system was a completely private venture in which Foxx held no position or stake.

Of course, the $10 million dollar loan that Foxx 'secured' to pay for the Democrat convention in Charlotte may have played a part in his appointment.

Oh...and the loan? Foxx and the DNC defaulted on it.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at March 11, 2017 12:07 PM (ZO497)

123 When are we going to end this boondoggle? California is officially insane.

Posted by: CaliGirl at March 11, 2017 12:07 PM (u8Ywb)

124 Michael the Deplorable TEXIT

So sorry to hear about your little dog Heidi, my best wishes for you and your family

I am an Insonmiac like Insonmiaic tonight...

We have (taxpayers) have spent zillions Down Under on a high speed rail link from Sydney to Melbourne - a number of plans over many years

Obviously a river of cash for planners..

Most people fly between out two biggest cities when air fares are cheap so who on this earth would catch a bloody train????

Case study similar to California's high speed rail link

Talking about planning disasters

One of my textbooks, when I was doing my Masters of Management (MBA) had a great chapter on the BART disaster in San Francisco, classed as one of the greatest planning disasters of the modern world!

Posted by: Aussie at March 11, 2017 12:07 PM (N/OEj)

125 Here in Kenosha, the mayor pushed to build a trolley car system a number of years ago. I think it goes in a three block circle route. Since it's based downtown, and there is nothing downtown except empty stores, a wine shop, and EZ Pay Cash outlets, it literally runs from nowhere to nowhere. The only time I've ever seen passengers on it is during Kenosha Days, when they have an outdoor festival on the lakefront adjacent to the trolley tracks.

The mayor is a bonehead, but a nice guy. We used to take care of his Golden Retriever.

Posted by: grammie winger at March 11, 2017 12:07 PM (dFi94)

126 If a driverless train crashes in the desert with no one around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Posted by: andycanuck at March 11, 2017 12:07 PM (nlbfN)

127 Nathan R. Jessup at March 11, 2017 12:05 PM

You're so right. In the '70s, I took a commuter train from San Francisco to Mountain View. Seemed like it was built in the '30s. Slow, too. Hope they have at least upgraded their existing commuter trains.

Posted by: KT at March 11, 2017 12:09 PM (qahv/)

128
https://goo.gl/l1fcb7
this could easily be 1869 if you photoshopped out the cell phones.

I'm from the government and I'm here to help.
Posted by: Nathan R. Jessup

One shining steel rail, from sea to mighty sea, from coast to mighty coast, from Bangor all the way to mighty Maine!

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at March 11, 2017 12:10 PM (IqV8l)

129 111 I live in Merced. Never in my life have I wanted to go to Shafter.
Posted by: Jaqen H'ghar at March 11, 2017 12:00 PM (5fSr7)

I live in California and no one I know has ever spoken about Shafter. I'm not sure where it is.

Posted by: CaliGirl at March 11, 2017 12:10 PM (u8Ywb)

130 Most people fly between out two biggest cities when air fares are cheap so who on this earth would catch a bloody train????
Posted by: Aussie at March 11, 2017 12:07 PM (N/OEj)

If I weren't in a hurry and the price were reasonable compared with air travel, I would. A couple extra hours, but you get a nice comfy seat, a coffee in the lounge car, get up and stretch a bit.

I'm also the goon who wants transatlantic ocean liners and airships to come back though, so feel free to disregard.

Posted by: hogmartin at March 11, 2017 12:12 PM (8nWyX)

131 The three-block-long behemoth was envisioned as the Grand Central Station of the West, a dynamic hub for buses and high-speed rail that would draw more than 100,000 visitors a day.

Should've called it the Harvey Milk Memorial Game Preserve. The perfect place to pick up those runaway teenaged boys to take home and cornhole. Amirite, Harvey?

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at March 11, 2017 12:12 PM (SRKgf)

132 But Europeans ride trains and Europeans are gooder than we are!

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at March 11, 2017 12:13 PM (IqV8l)

133 The three-block-long behemoth was envisioned as the Grand Central Station of the West, a dynamic hub for buses and high-speed rail that would draw more than 100,000 visitors a day.

But no riders.

That's the California way.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at March 11, 2017 12:13 PM (zc3Db)

134 A ~~Street Car~~ Bullet Train Named Desire

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks. Now worse than Hitler! at March 11, 2017 12:14 PM (Nwg0u)

135 We, as citizens nay taxpayers -need to wake up. And wake up those who represent us.

Would anyone here borrow money for 30 years for a new car? A car that one would keep for maybe 5 years?

Isn't that what we are doing with these infrastructure bills? With Bush's $780 billion, Obama's trillion dollar graftastic boondoggle?

I don't dispute infrastructure is in need of repair, but there has to be a smarter way to fund this.

Posted by: Our Country is Screwed at March 11, 2017 12:14 PM (jxbfJ)

136 I used to ride the City of New Orleans between Chicago and Carbondale IL. I like it. Usually I could get a couple empty seats together and take a nap.

Posted by: grammie winger at March 11, 2017 12:14 PM (dFi94)

137 What California really needs is a statewide trolley system.

Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at March 11, 2017 12:15 PM (zc3Db)

138 133 The three-block-long behemoth was envisioned as the Grand Central Station of the West, a dynamic hub for buses and high-speed rail that would draw more than 100,000 visitors a day.

But no riders.

That's the California way.
Posted by: ThePrimordialOrderedPair at March 11, 2017 12:13 PM (zc3Db)

But it will make a wonderful Homeless shelter...

/facepalm

Posted by: Don Q. at March 11, 2017 12:15 PM (NgKpN)

139 The legal system is already pretty broken. I live in a state which is unofficially sanctuary state with a couple of cities making it official. So undocumented aliens get a pass on laws. Ratchet that shit up some more "trial nullification if any jurist was racist" and the only thing the law will do is go after people who got fed up and implemented vigilante justice.

The way around that will be to under the table hire some members of the exempted groups to be the vigilante posses, with care to stay anonymous as to who is doing the hiring.

And that would probably be as ugly as the muslim countries where dastardly cads whip up a mob against folks they are in debt to on phony blasphemy charges; but if folks cant get legal justice they will create substitutes.

Posted by: PaleRider at March 11, 2017 12:17 PM (Jen0I)

140 Gardening Thread is up. Feel free to hang around on this thread if you're not into gardening.

Posted by: KT at March 11, 2017 12:18 PM (qahv/)

141 BNONews
11/03/17 12:25
Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of NY, is refusing to resign as requested by the Trump administration - NYT/CNN

Posted by: EVLINC! at March 11, 2017 12:18 PM (y3aQB)

142 Re the BART janitor who made 235K. He worked 16 hour days. He worked 7 days a week most weeks. The OT was available to other employees who turned it down.

I bet most of the people do not want to work those kind of hours. I would be looking into his *disappearing* into a closet for periods of time, but I would not discount it could have been his lunch period. I know that I have sandwiched my lunch with my 2 breaks before in order to get 1 1/2 hours of napping in.

Seems to me the big fault is on BART for not hiring enough workers to avoid so much OT. But benefits to more employees have a cost also.

Posted by: cfo mom at March 11, 2017 12:18 PM (RfzVr)

143 Posted by: hogmartin at March 11, 2017 12:12 PM (8nWyX)
Amtrak from San Luis to San Diego is a beautiful trip. It does take forever.
My mother doesn't like driving to LA anymore so she takes the train to visit her friend down south.
Some of our friends take their kids to San Diego on the train.

Posted by: CaliGirl at March 11, 2017 12:19 PM (u8Ywb)

144 Cincinnati Streetcar
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at March 11, 2017 12:04 PM (IqV8l)

That kind of sounds like something unpleasant and degrading that you'd find on Urban Dictionary.

Posted by: hogmartin

The Cincinnati Streetcar is about to enter my Holland Tunnel. All aboard! Hahahaha!

Posted by: Hope Solo at March 11, 2017 12:19 PM (vRcUp)

145 I bet Maxine Waters wigs costs a bundle...

The Maxine Human Hair Wig by Vivica Fox is a cropped bob cut with subtle
layering, blunt bangs, and straight strands . Designed under the Pure
Stretch Cap Collection, the Maxine offers long-lasting comfort and
security which works all day.

Posted by: Colin at March 11, 2017 12:19 PM (PLCSu)

146 Didn't Detroit just finish the first part of their trolley system, I'm sure they can afford much more. Probably miles and miles more.
---

There used to be a trolly in Detroit n the 1950's.

They paved over the tracks.

Top.
People.

Working on a plan.

Posted by: shibumi at March 11, 2017 12:20 PM (J5mC3)

147 You might have to have grown up in CA's glory years to feel the anger and bitterness and despair at what it has become.

Posted by: rhomboid at March 11, 2017 11:24 AM (QDnY+)
I did, and I do.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at March 11, 2017 12:21 PM (SRKgf)

148 The money spent so far on the project is "virtually all federal money".

IOW, its a welfare make-work boondoggle.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at March 11, 2017 12:22 PM (oVJmc)

149 There used to be a trolly in Detroit n the 1950's.

They paved over the tracks.

Top.
People.

Working on a plan.

Posted by: shibumi at March 11, 2017 12:20 PM (J5mC3)

They have built a few miles of new trolley...YouTube video on the delivery of the beautiful new cars.

Posted by: Colin at March 11, 2017 12:22 PM (PLCSu)

150 130 hogmartin

Hi, and don;t get me wrong

I'm a regular train person - I would never drive into the city as our train service is great however our high speed train saga never progresses past the *lets pay zillions to planners * stage

Yes if if does happen, I'll happily get the train but it seems to me that it works like a scam at present - spend lots of money, nothing happens for years , repeat every few years

BTW I'm really a train person, we support our local steam train museum and go for trips on our lovely steam trains I have goggles so I can hang out the window without getting too much soot in my eyes!

And I'm looking forward to my first trip on the fast train in Japan from Osaka to Tokyo in October!

Posted by: Aussie at March 11, 2017 12:23 PM (N/OEj)

151 132 But Europeans ride trains and Europeans are gooder than we are!
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at March 11, 2017 12:13 PM (IqV8l)

Preach it, brother.

They also have traffic circles and bike lanes, so we have to have them or risk being considered unsophisticated.

In fact, we need to start a couple of world wars, engage in genocide, and import a bunch of worthless Third World shitheads for the same reason.

We have so much to learn.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at March 11, 2017 12:24 PM (SRKgf)

152 Amtrak from San Luis to San Diego is a beautiful trip. It does take forever.

My mother doesn't like driving to LA anymore so she takes the train to visit her friend down south.

Some of our friends take their kids to San Diego on the train.

Posted by: CaliGirl at March 11, 2017 12:19 PM (u8Ywb)
It IS a beautiful route, if you're not in a hurry.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at March 11, 2017 12:25 PM (SRKgf)

153 And I'm looking forward to my first trip on the fast train in Japan from Osaka to Tokyo in October!

Posted by: Aussie at March 11, 2017 12:23 PM (N/OEj)

I hate to say this, but you will probably die of old age before you can come to the states to ride the California Bullet train....I know I will.

Posted by: Colin at March 11, 2017 12:26 PM (PLCSu)

154 Here's where I found the article I linked above.

http://www.transterrestrial.com/?p=67112

This is absolutely infuriating. Aerojet/Rocketdyne is a company that has built excellent rocket engines for decades. But this is about politicians trying to freeze out an upstart newcomer.

Posted by: rickl at March 11, 2017 12:28 PM (sdi6R)

155 Ratchet that shit up some more "trial nullification if any jurist was racist" and the only thing the law will do is go after people who got fed up and implemented vigilante justice.

That's the problem. The reason we have a legal system is because people got fed up with vigilantes and people taking care of things themselves.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 11, 2017 12:28 PM (39g3+)

156 The Maxine Human Hair Wig by Vivica Fox is a cropped bob cut with subtle layering, blunt bangs, and straight strands . Designed under the Pure Stretch Cap Collection, the Maxine offers long-lasting comfort and security which works all day.

-
And it keeps the Russkie microwave brainwashing beams out.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks. Now worse than Hitler! at March 11, 2017 12:29 PM (Nwg0u)

157 Yeah, we've got a bunch of Toronto bus company subway-entrance workers making $200Gs a year too because they work as much overtime for other workers as possible. (Not drivers I'd point out.) I can't remember if they passed a city law limiting OT work by individuals or not. The city probably did as OT work at (I'd imagine) time-and-a-half costs the bus company alot more than just straight-time.

Posted by: andycanuck at March 11, 2017 12:29 PM (nlbfN)

158 Took six years to build the nations first trans-continental railroad. 1912 miles. I suspect they had fewer regulations and bureaucracy to deal with in those days.

Posted by: Bacon Jeff at March 11, 2017 12:30 PM (VSenK)

159 146 shibumi

We used to have trams (light rail) in Sydney - anyway, all the tracks were covered up when trams went out of vogue..

And guess what, roads are being ripped up again to put the old trams back in!

Posted by: Aussie at March 11, 2017 12:30 PM (N/OEj)

160 My town, San Juan Capistrano, is a stop on all north and south bound passenger trains. Our train station and attached restaurant are made from 3 old converted rail cars, but we did get a parking structure a few years ago. Some cities have money to waste, some don't.

Posted by: Tinfoilbaby at March 11, 2017 12:30 PM (6Ll1u)

161 I pulled a train once...

Posted by: Barney Frank at March 11, 2017 12:30 PM (ZO497)

162 #157 Oh, and I should add the guys were working OT for guys who were taking off their regular shift.

Posted by: andycanuck at March 11, 2017 12:30 PM (nlbfN)

163 146
There used to be a trolly in Detroit n the 1950's.

They paved over the tracks.

Top.
People.

Working on a plan.
Posted by: shibumi at March 11, 2017 12:20 PM (J5mC3)

Well of course. That was all about the automakers wanting to build and sell cars and buses, and the politicians in their pockets who went along with the plan.

Posted by: rickl at March 11, 2017 12:31 PM (sdi6R)

164 Secret Service: Person arrested on White House grounds

Google is totally unbiased, right? Their news is put together by robots, right?
Yup, that is why they have a picture of Michael Flynn, implying he is the intruder...
https://goo.gl/Iipuvv

Posted by: Nathan R. Jessup at March 11, 2017 12:31 PM (TixTl)

165 And it keeps the Russkie microwave brainwashing beams out.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks
-----

Probably would make good winter headgear for North Koreans, while they are fending off Rooskie invasion.

Posted by: Mike Hammer, etc., etc. at March 11, 2017 12:33 PM (ZO497)

166 153 Colin

" I hate to say this, but you will probably die of old age before you can come to the states to ride the California Bullet train....I know I will. "

And I will die of old age before our Aussie high speed rail is ever built so don't put that one on your bucket list..

However, I will get on that train in Japan this year!

Posted by: Aussie at March 11, 2017 12:34 PM (N/OEj)

167 I don't know about the bean counting but here's an idea: train ferries. If you want to go from Hooterville to Petticoat Junction, you drive your car onto the train then either stay in your car for privacy or go to the club car. Then when you get to Petticoat Junction, you drive off the train and have your car.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks. Now worse than Hitler! at March 11, 2017 12:34 PM (Nwg0u)

168 I they could build an ACTUAL high speed rail instead of this blended approach I might actually be OK with this. As it stands it's just a hole in the ground that they are dumping money in.

Posted by: Max Power at March 11, 2017 12:34 PM (q177U)

169 Posted by: Aussie at March 11, 2017 12:23 PM (N/OEj)

Merced to Los Angeles by Car.... 4 Hours.

Merced to Los Angeles by High Speed Rail? Because it WILL stop? trip will take about 4 hours... including the Security lines you will have to go through...

You will then need to rent a car, to get to your destination.

It currently costs me about $35 to drive my Camaro to Los Angeles...

To take the train is estimated (by my Brother who is one of the money guys on the project) will cost about $75....

So I take the train, which costs more, does not save me time, and I have to rent a car at my destination...

Yeah... OK...

Posted by: Don Q. at March 11, 2017 12:35 PM (NgKpN)

170 What about a vacuum cannon train? That guy on last night's ONT could design it.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at March 11, 2017 12:36 PM (vRcUp)

171 145
The Maxine Human Hair Wig by Vivica Fox is a cropped bob cut with subtle layering, blunt bangs, and straight strands . Designed under the Pure Stretch Cap Collection, the Maxine offers long-lasting comfort and
security which works all day.
Posted by: Colin at March 11, 2017 12:19 PM (PLCSu)

I think I saw that on the Rolling Stones' "Some Girls" album cover.

Posted by: rickl at March 11, 2017 12:37 PM (sdi6R)

172 It's a funnel for federal money into California. It's not wasted if it fills up pockets and local economies, right?

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at March 11, 2017 12:41 PM (oVJmc)

173
This is absolutely infuriating. Aerojet/Rocketdyne is a company that has built excellent rocket engines for decades. But this is about politicians trying to freeze out an upstart newcomer.
Posted by: rickl at March 11, 2017 12:28 PM (sdi6R)

Rocketdyne had test facility up in the hills above where I grew up back in the 1960's and when they tested the engines you could hear that deep rumble .It'sa fond childhood memory for me.

Posted by: Deplorable Male Logic at March 11, 2017 12:41 PM (lKyWE)

174 Preach it, brother.

They also have traffic circles and bike lanes, so we have to have them or risk being considered unsophisticated.

In fact, we need to start a couple of world wars, engage in genocide, and import a bunch of worthless Third World shitheads for the same reason.

We have so much to learn.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at March 11, 2017 12:24 PM (SRKgf)

Posted by: Berserker- Dragonheads Division at March 11, 2017 12:42 PM (aMlLZ)

175 Canada is taking over the American Dream

The American dream has been an aspiration for immigrants and citizens alike for decades. The idea that anyone -- regardless of race, religion, or socio-economic background -- could advance and have a better life is one of the hallmarks of living in America.

Or at least it used to be.

Recent reports indicate that the American dream may be moving north of the border. Put it another way, the American dream no longer exists, but the Canadian dream does.

Yes, America is a terrible place to live. So all of you "immigrants" and lefties the only answer is to move to Canada and you and PM Junior can make it a liberal paradise. Start packing today

Posted by: TheQuietMan at March 11, 2017 12:44 PM (auHtY)

176 Preach it, brother.

They also have traffic circles and bike lanes, so we have to have them or risk being considered unsophisticated.

In fact, we need to start a couple of world wars, engage in genocide, and import a bunch of worthless Third World shitheads for the same reason.

We have so much to learn.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at March 11, 2017 12:24 PM (SRKgf)

Hell yeah. That's the shit that pisses me off. They can talk about us all they want, but we will never...ever have the stain they carry.

Posted by: Berserker- Dragonheads Division at March 11, 2017 12:44 PM (aMlLZ)

177
Yes, America is a terrible place to live. So all of you "immigrants" and lefties the only answer is to move to Canada and you and PM Junior can make it a liberal paradise. Start packing today
Posted by: TheQuietMan

Take off to the great white north.
Take off. It's a beauty when you go.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at March 11, 2017 12:45 PM (IqV8l)

178 I might be more hopeful about the Merced to Shafter bullet train if the Amtrak through that stretch ran on time more often.

Posted by: KT at March 11, 2017 12:45 PM (qahv/)

179 169 Don Q

" Merced to Los Angeles by Car.... 4 Hours.

Merced to Los Angeles by High Speed Rail? Because it WILL stop? trip will take about 4 hours... including the Security lines you will have to go through...

You will then need to rent a car, to get to your destination.

It currently costs me about $35 to drive my Camaro to Los Angeles...
To take the train is estimated (by my Brother who is one of the money guys on the project) will cost about $75....

So I take the train, which costs more, does not save me time, and I have to rent a car at my destination...

Yeah... OK...

That's like the story of our Sydney - Melbourne high speed rail link

There is NO WAY any rail fare can be as economical as an airfare

I can fly to Melbourne from Sydney for $80

Catch the Skytrain bus to the CBD for $20

According to the costs analysis of the train this can't be matched

One hour flying time v 4 hours by train

Of course you have to add the airport security time (usually 15 minutes)

Posted by: Aussie at March 11, 2017 12:46 PM (N/OEj)

180 And I'm looking forward to my first trip on the fast train in Japan from Osaka to Tokyo in October!

Posted by: Aussie at March 11, 2017 12:23 PM (N/OEj)

That's always a nice trip.

Be sure to stop in Kyoto if you have the time. Two words: World Heritage. You hit Wh stuff every time you swing a dead cat in Kyoto.

Some of Mrs naturalfake's and my favorite restaurants in the world are in Kyoto, Osaka, and Tokyo.

Best aquarium in the world in Osaka as well. Well worth the time.

If you want a life-changing eating event and like sushi and, this is the important part, have the cash to spare,
go eat at Jiro's while you're in Tokyo.

You probably can't get into the original, but his son runs another one that's just as good.

This is Jiro from the movie, "Jiro Dreams of Sushi", which you may or may not want to check out.

The life changing part?

This is the most wonderful sushi in the world. No, I'm not joking. You know, that little sushi place at home that you just love? Yeah, well, it will henceforth suck.
Jiro's is that good.

Some times knowledge is a terrible thing.

You'll have a great time I envy you!

Posted by: naturalfake at March 11, 2017 12:46 PM (9q7Dl)

181 So I take the train, which costs more, does not save me time, and I have to rent a car at my destination...

Yeah... OK...
Posted by: Don Q. at March 11, 2017 12:35 PM (NgKpN)

Homemade pizza: $4.50, 30 minutes of work, 12 hours of rise time

Delivered pizza: $9 + $5 tip, no work

It's just down to priorities. I'd pay a bit more to ride, read a book, look at the scenery, and not have to actually drive in LA. People make NYC driving sound scary but LA was the worst I've ever experienced, and God help you if you have to get on the interstate and change 8 lanes over to catch your exit.

Posted by: hogmartin at March 11, 2017 12:47 PM (8nWyX)

182 Americans, with primitive tools, managed to build a
railroad from sea to shining sea in the hostile territory that was the
U.S. in the 1860's. Took 6 years, IIRC.

How far some have fallen.
Posted by: Joe Mama at March 11, 2017 11:30 AM (M5NPS)

I will point out that except for the Northern route - Joe Hill's railroad - the others were built with US bonds guaranteed by the US government, and when they started to default, it started a number of financial panics.

History may not repeat, but it may rhyme

Posted by: Kindltot at March 11, 2017 12:47 PM (WQX/u)

183 Goodness it's almost 5am here Sunday morning!

Nightynight all and have a wonderful yesterday!

Posted by: Aussie at March 11, 2017 12:49 PM (N/OEj)

184 G'night Aussie! Let me know how tomorrow turns out.

Posted by: rickl at March 11, 2017 12:53 PM (sdi6R)

185 180 naturalfake

I'm supposed to in bed but i just saw your post

I'll catch up with you this week and let you know about our trip

We'll be based in Osaka with a friend who was an exchange student years ago and we couldn't make it to his wedding last year

Thanks for your tips !

Posted by: Aussie at March 11, 2017 12:54 PM (N/OEj)

186 And here in Seattle the chickens are coming home to roost. The city and county councils ramrodded through the Phase III of their local rail system, to be funded by taxes on cars. Tax rate is set by the state. No relation al all to the actual value of the car and license rates have skyrocketed.
Backlash is gong to be a bitch.

Posted by: Diogenes at March 11, 2017 12:54 PM (0tfLf)

187 Revisiting the rocket engine article yet again:

"The United States Government (USG) must have a hands-on, decision-making role... in any decision made by United Launch Alliance to down-select engines on its proposed Vulcan space launch system, especially where one of the technologies is unproven at the required size and power," the letter states. "If ULA plans on requesting hundreds of millions of dollars from the USG for development of its launch vehicle and associated infrastructure, then it is not only appropriate but required that the USG have a significant role in the decision-making concerning the vehicle." The letter then goes on to say the Air Force should not give any additional funding to ULA, other than for current launch vehicles, until the company provides "full access, oversight of, and approval rights over decision-making" in its choice of contractors for the engines on Vulcan.

That is utterly breathtaking in its arrogance.

Wonder why we haven't made more progress in spaceflight? This is why.

Posted by: rickl at March 11, 2017 12:56 PM (sdi6R)

188 Canada is taking over the American Dream

The American dream has been an aspiration for immigrants and citizens alike for decades. The idea that anyone -- regardless of race, religion, or socio-economic background -- could advance and have a better life is one of the hallmarks of living in America.

Or at least it used to be.

Recent reports indicate that the American dream may be moving north of the border. Put it another way, the American dream no longer exists, but the Canadian dream does.

Yes, America is a terrible place to live. So all of you "immigrants" and lefties the only answer is to move to Canada and you and PM Junior can make it a liberal paradise. Start packing today

Posted by: TheQuietMan at March 11, 2017 12:44 PM (auHtY)

Yeah the problem is we ran out of "immigrants" long ago. People came here to be American, not just to get a new mailing address and suck up benefits. What we get now is not people looking for the American dream, we get insurgents that come in illegally, don't learn the language, fly their home country flags, and then go around preaching some Reconquista horseshit.

The shit that really kills me is how hard it is for Europeans to immigrate here. They seem to already know the language no matter where they're from, they're generally pretty well educated, and yet they can't come here.

They left turned the melting pot into a sewer.

Posted by: Berserker- Dragonheads Division at March 11, 2017 01:00 PM (aMlLZ)

189 http://bit.ly/2mxunAB
----
NAILED IT: British Satirist Slams 'Snowflake'Students Who Hate Free Speech
-----
Jonathan Pie at it again

Posted by: EVLINC! at March 11, 2017 01:00 PM (y3aQB)

190
Backlash is gong to be a bitch.
Posted by: Diogenes

The much anticipated but seldom realized backlash.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at March 11, 2017 01:03 PM (IqV8l)

191 Man, I guess I got tired of discussing planes, trains, and automobiles, so... I will restate a comment I made the other day, somewhat related.

How come none of you told me about the Syfy Network show, "The Expanse."

It's a great show! Please ignore the temptation to see parallels to current geo-political shenanigans, and watch the whole thing unfold.

Future. Earth v. Mars (with the asteroid belt folks caught in between). Corrupt government officials, including the U.N, which now runs Earth.

It's complex and suspenseful, and... there may be something else lurking out there, ready to cause more trouble.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 11, 2017 01:04 PM (Pz4pT)

192 I love a train parade.

Posted by: Smokin' Uncle Joe Biden at March 11, 2017 01:05 PM (Tyii7)

193 http://bit.ly/2mxunAB
----
NAILED IT: British Satirist Slams 'Snowflake'Students Who Hate Free Speech
-----
Jonathan Pie at it again

Posted by: EVLINC! at March 11, 2017 01:00 PM (y3aQB)

That was some funny shit.

Posted by: Berserker- Dragonheads Division at March 11, 2017 01:08 PM (aMlLZ)

194 monorail ... Monorail ... MONORAIL!!

Posted by: Grump928(C) at March 11, 2017 01:16 PM (LTHVh)

195 I'd pay a bit more to ride, read a book, look at the scenery, and not have to actually drive in LA.

Nobody walks in LA

Posted by: Missing Persons at March 11, 2017 01:17 PM (39g3+)

196 Bae and I hop the train all the time. Why hate the rails?

Posted by: Mx. Woke at March 11, 2017 01:17 PM (nN3W/)

197 I will point out that except for the Northern route - Joe Hill's railroad - the others were built with US bonds guaranteed by the US government, and when they started to default, it started a number of financial panics.

History may not repeat, but it may rhyme
Posted by: Kindltot at March 11, 2017 12:47 PM (WQX/u)

Plus they received every other section (one square mile plots) of federal land for five (?) miles on either side of every mile of track they laid. Which could later be sold at a huge profit!

Posted by: Fox2! at March 11, 2017 01:19 PM (brIR5)

198
1. Peninsula residents had the opportunity during the late 60's to extend BART south from Daly City to San Jose-Fremont but rejected doing so by local ballot. IE rich folks in Hillsborough, Palo Alto, Menlo-Atherton, Los Altis and points south didn't want to provide thieving, low life scum, easy access to their $$enclaves. (I was raised middle class in the Highlands for those familiar to the area. )

2. Require, by law, that all state government official travel between Redding - SF- Sacto - Tahoe - LA be conducted on CalTrain NOW. Practice what you preach, aholes.

Posted by: 13times at March 11, 2017 01:21 PM (WHVu+)

199 There's nothin' on earth like a genuine bona-fide electrified six-car monorail!

Posted by: Grump928(C) at March 11, 2017 01:21 PM (LTHVh)

200 @118 Damn. I was sure you were talking about this one:
http://tinyurl.com/jlazlz4

183 MPH through Bryan, Ohio.
Fifty years ago.

Posted by: Stringer Davis at March 11, 2017 01:23 PM (H5rtT)

201 199 There's nothin' on earth like a genuine bona-fide electrified six-car monorail!
Posted by: Grump928(C) at March 11, 2017 01:21 PM (LTHVh)

Except when, like Seattle's, they have a place where there is not enough clearance for two trains to pass side by side. At the point where you would most expect two trains to be side by side.

Posted by: Fox2! at March 11, 2017 01:24 PM (brIR5)

202 Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern
District of NY, is refusing to resign as requested by the Trump
administration - NYT/CNN

Posted by: EVLINC! at March 11, 2017 12:18 PM (y3aQB)

If I was Attorney General I would have Fed marshals in his office Monday morning and place him under arrest. Confiscate all his files, computers, cell phones etc.
But that's just me.

Posted by: MAC-SOG at March 11, 2017 01:25 PM (QPdNE)

203 Nobody enjoys a train quite like I do.

Posted by: Sandra Flook at March 11, 2017 01:25 PM (Tyii7)

204 Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern
District of NY, is refusing to resign as requested by the Trump
administration

He's the guy who's been engaged in lawfare against Trump already, isn't he?

Zero out his office budget.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at March 11, 2017 01:27 PM (oVJmc)

205 If you refuse to resign, then you are fired.
Which looks worse on your resumé?

Posted by: navybrat at March 11, 2017 01:29 PM (w7KSn)

206 Posted by: Mr. Peebles at March 11, 2017 01:27 PM (oVJmc)
------
No ! He is the guy who is investigating NY Gov. Cuomo & The Clinton Foundation, but in his past He was Chuck the Schmuck Schumer Legal Counsel

Posted by: EVLINC! at March 11, 2017 01:31 PM (y3aQB)

207
If you refuse to resign, then you are fired.
Which looks worse on your resum�?
Posted by: navybrat

That depends upon who fired you and who is about to hire you.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at March 11, 2017 01:31 PM (IqV8l)

208 He's the guy who's been engaged in lawfare against Trump already, isn't he?

Zero out his office budget.
Posted by: Mr. Peebles at March 11, 2017 01:27 PM (oVJmc)

=====

Reduce his salary to $1.

Posted by: Flyboy at March 11, 2017 01:33 PM (QLAcq)

209 the Syfy Network show, "The Expanse."

Is The Expanse about how big space is in the solar system?
or how big the universe is if they make all 6 books?
or how big space is when you get tossed out an airlock?

Embrace the power of and.

Posted by: DaveA at March 11, 2017 01:33 PM (8J/Te)

210 I have a (recurring) question: why don't they build HIGH. SPEED. RAIL. between LA and Las Vegas?

Is it because that might actually be economically viable?

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at March 11, 2017 01:34 PM (SRKgf)

211 Posted by: MAC-SOG at March 11, 2017 01:25 PM (QPdNE)

My understanding is that Bharara is actually doing his job as prosecuter (he's the one going after Cuomo) and the article I saw said he was the only one *not* asked to resign. I guess we'll have to see which report is correct.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at March 11, 2017 01:35 PM (sEDyY)

212 Fire Bharara's ass. Another friendly AG can continue DeBlasio's
colonoscopy where Preet left off.

Posted by: Under Fire at March 11, 2017 01:35 PM (nN3W/)

213 If you refuse to resign, then you are fired.
Which looks worse on your resume?
Posted by: navybrat at March 11, 2017 01:29 PM (w7KSn)

Above a certain level, it doesn't matter anymore. There's always some foundation or institute or whatever that will give you a cushy sinecure for life.

Posted by: hogmartin at March 11, 2017 01:36 PM (8nWyX)

214 Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at March 11, 2017 01:34 PM (SRKgf)

Are there mountains that would be a problem? Haven't been on that route in over 20 years, and I was never the driver, so I just don't remember where the mountain ranges are.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at March 11, 2017 01:38 PM (sEDyY)

215 OT, from Insty: "What we are doing in Manbij is something altogether different from a
military assault: a "deterrence and reassurance" operation meant to
dissuade rival factions from massacring one another."

But ... but ... I thought diversity was strength. I'm confused.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at March 11, 2017 01:38 PM (SRKgf)

216 Are there mountains that would be a problem? Haven't
been on that route in over 20 years, and I was never the driver, so I
just don't remember where the mountain ranges are.

Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at March 11, 2017 01:38 PM (sEDyY)
I don't drive it from LA, so in honesty I don't know if the San Gabriel Mountains pose a problem or not, but it doesn't matter, because the HIGH. SPEED. RAIL. was supposed to go to LA too, and so it would have exactly the same problem.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at March 11, 2017 01:40 PM (SRKgf)

217 Better alternative to the choo choo.

It would be far cheaper for Californians if the state operated a small fleet of light commuter aircraft servicing a network of already existent small airports up and down the valley/Cascades and Sierra Nevada with a hub at Sacto.

Dump AmTrack-CalTrain service from PNW at Redding CalAir hub. Airport runways can be maintained for a fraction of the cost of h-speed tracks; Earthquake damage; flood damage. Weather is rarely a problem; delta Tule fog south of Sacto.

Posted by: 13times at March 11, 2017 01:43 PM (WHVu+)

218 210 I have a (recurring) question: why don't they build HIGH. SPEED. RAIL. between LA and Las Vegas?

Is it because that might actually be economically viable?
Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at March 11, 2017 01:34 PM (SRKgf)

Uh.... there's been a plan for that for a few years...

Just could not get funding...

Was actually from San Bernardino to Vegas...

Posted by: Don Q. at March 11, 2017 01:44 PM (NgKpN)

219 Rival factions massacring one another sounds like a feature rather than a bug. But maybe that's just me.

Posted by: rickl at March 11, 2017 01:44 PM (sdi6R)

220 the Syfy Network show, "The Expanse."

Is The Expanse about how big space is in the solar system?
or how big the universe is if they make all 6 books?
or how big space is when you get tossed out an airlock?

Embrace the power of and.
Posted by: DaveA at March 11, 2017 01:33 PM (8J/Te)

I don't think I know the answer to the question, because I'm not sure I know precisely where they're going with this.

If anything it's the claustrophobic nature of living off Earth, either under a bubble on your particular rock, or in a ship that is going wherever, contrasted with the slow, quiet creeping along toward... whatever.

They do a good job (as good as possible, I'd say), retaining the notion of the distance between these places. But to be honest with you, I'm not sure why they named it as they did.

Posted by: BurtTC at March 11, 2017 01:44 PM (Pz4pT)

221 My understanding is that Bharara is actually doing his job as prosecuter (he's the one going after Cuomo) and the article I saw said he was the only one *not* asked to resign. I guess we'll have to see which report is correct.
Posted by: Polliwog the 'Ette at March 11, 2017 01:35 PM (sEDyY)

He supposedly met with Trump, who wanted to keep him..

Its Sessions who asked for the resignation.

And it SHOULD be up to Sessions to pick his own damn subordinates...

Posted by: Don Q. at March 11, 2017 01:46 PM (NgKpN)

222 I've often thought that the problem with mass transports is the getting to the stops. Maybe driverless cars will be useful for this. If you could take a google taxi to a nice bus stop with a snack bar rather than have to walk to a stand in the snow stop and then ride a nice bus to next city over and another google taxi right to your workplace then it would become more convenient than messing with your own car.

Of course the commies will never like it as there is no need for locked down RR tracks that cannot adapt to changing patterns of where people want to live and go to with this plan. They want to force the 'customers' to adapt to the services.

Posted by: PaleRider at March 11, 2017 01:47 PM (Jen0I)

223 It may be a matter of Baharara tenders his resignation, then Sessions refuses to accept it.

Posted by: Mr. Peebles at March 11, 2017 01:49 PM (oVJmc)

224 Upthread - lots of mountains to cross between LA and Vegas.

Posted by: 13times at March 11, 2017 01:49 PM (WHVu+)

225 It's the name of the 6 (so far) book series.
They do a lot of stuff re: distance, time of travel, delay time in comms. And a lot of high tension stuff where only the viewer/reader has any real idea what's going on and the characters are flailing. Despite all this they still can't get the sound guy to only put rocket whooshes in when there's an actual physical connection to carry the sound.

Posted by: DaveA at March 11, 2017 01:49 PM (8J/Te)

226 2. Require, by law, that all state government official travel between Redding - SF- Sacto - Tahoe - LA be conducted on CalTrain NOW. Practice what you preach, aholes.
Posted by: 13times at March 11, 2017 01:21 PM (WHVu+)

LOL... my brother works on the High Speed Rail project... Finance side...

He FLYs weekly from San Diego to Sacramento for meetings...

Something he would STILL do even if the project was done, because High Speed won't get to San Diego...

Posted by: Don Q. at March 11, 2017 01:50 PM (NgKpN)

227 224 Upthread - lots of mountains to cross between LA and Vegas.
Posted by: 13times at March 11, 2017 01:49 PM (WHVu+)

It really doesn't matter the size or scope of the mountains... its the degree of grade that trains have to go up...

Which is why the High Speed will go over Tehachapi Pass, instead of the Grapevine...

Posted by: Don Q. at March 11, 2017 01:51 PM (NgKpN)

228 226 2. Require, by law, that all state government official travel between Redding - SF- Sacto - Tahoe - LA be conducted on CalTrain NOW. Practice what you preach, aholes.
Posted by: 13times at March 11, 2017 01:21 PM (WHVu+)
LOL... my brother works on the High Speed Rail project... Finance side...
He FLYs weekly from San Diego to Sacramento for meetings...
Something he would STILL do even if the project was done, because High Speed won't get to San Diego...
Posted by: Don Q. at March 11, 2017 01:50 PM (NgKpN)

A liberal acquaintance worked for an outfit that promoted rail travel and safety, but flew all the participants to their periodic (and utterly pointless) meetings.

Why, I asked?

"It's more convenient than taking the train."

Oh.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at March 11, 2017 01:55 PM (SRKgf)

229 Who in their right mind would ever name their kid Preet?

Posted by: Reince at March 11, 2017 01:55 PM (Tyii7)

230 222 I've often thought that the problem with mass transports is the getting to the stops. Maybe driverless cars will be useful for this. If you could take a google taxi to a nice bus stop with a snack bar rather than have to walk to a stand in the snow stop and then ride a nice bus to next city over and another google taxi right to your workplace then it would become more convenient than messing with your own car.

Of course the commies will never like it as there is no need for locked down RR tracks that cannot adapt to changing patterns of where people want to live and go to with this plan. They want to force the 'customers' to adapt to the services.
Posted by: PaleRider at March 11, 2017 01:47 PM (Jen0I)

The commies are drooling over the prospect of driverless cars, because they can achieve the same aim of eliminating individual initiative and letting the government control the movement of people.

Posted by: rickl at March 11, 2017 01:57 PM (sdi6R)

231 This is a great post!
Thanks for collecting all the crap in one basket, KT!

Posted by: scottst at March 11, 2017 02:02 PM (zklxP)

232 Speaking of the Wikileaks release, specifically what they are calling Vault 7, where the "internet of things" is discussed, does anyone besides me now look at the death of reporter Michael Hastings as a little too convenient?

Posted by: navybrat at March 11, 2017 02:03 PM (w7KSn)

233 >>Don Q 226

I've been saying for years that Coastal California is Fritz Lange's Metropolis and the undergound-downtrodren Mexi-worker-serfs who service them live in the Valley.

Rail and buses are for the little people. Herd the brown people onto cattle cars. No self respecting Coastal would dare be seen boarding cattle cars.

Posted by: 13times at March 11, 2017 02:03 PM (WHVu+)

234 I'm in KKKalifornia.

1. This will never be completed.
2. The scrap metal thieves will pick it apart before even the first section is completed.
3. The cost of a ticket is projected to cost more than airfare.
4. The cost of a ticket has gone up almost 400% before actually building the first section.
5. I don't know how but I'm sure Feinstein's criminal husband has made hundreds of millions. My best guess in eco engineering scams.
6. Write of KKKalifornia.
7. Fun Fact: KKKalifornia spends upward of $20 billion a year on ILLEGAL ALIENS.
8. WRITE OFF KKKALIFORNIA
9. If the GOPe and fascist democrats had their way the entire USA would be as screwed up as KKKalifornia but the democrats would be in complete control and that is all they care about.

Posted by: Jukin the Deplorable and Profoundly Unserious at March 11, 2017 02:05 PM (cOHS7)

235 @blogger... Hey man, I'm originally from Fresno... Are you a Freeper too?

Posted by: I smell something Rotten at March 11, 2017 02:11 PM (ctO3Z)

236 e're all just tax cattle, sheep to be shorn.
Posted by: Insomniac - sin valor at March 11, 2017 11:15 AM

Sheep aren't just for shearing, IYKWWMAWTYD.

Always glad to help make a metaphor more meaningful and accurate.

Posted by: Scots, Diggers, Kiwis, and Basques at March 11, 2017 02:11 PM (DMUuz)

237 IIRC AMTRAK sells a crappy hamburger for $16 but its out the door cost with labor and graft is $24. The choo-choo company loses $8 on each $16 hamburger. I'm not even mad, just impressed.

Posted by: Jukin the Deplorable and Profoundly Unserious at March 11, 2017 02:12 PM (cOHS7)

238 236
e're all just tax cattle, sheep to be shorn.
Posted by: Insomniac - sin valor at March 11, 2017 11:15 AM

Sheep aren't just for shearing, IYKWWMAWTYD.

Always glad to help make a metaphor more meaningful and accurate.

Posted by: Scots, Diggers, Kiwis, and Basques at March 11, 2017 02:11 PM (DMUuz)

The Ayatollah Khomeini once issued a fatwa that if you "spoil" a neighbor's sheep, you have to pay him for it.

Posted by: Caesar North of the Rubicon at March 11, 2017 02:13 PM (jK8Z7)

239 I'm worried about when Trump goes to the bathroom and think we should scrutinize and make recommendations about that.

Posted by: Mathers at March 11, 2017 02:13 PM (mDmux)

240 ...does anyone besides me now look at the death of reporter Michael Hastings as a little too convenient?

this specific case merely went from "probable" to "confirmed" in the first 15 minutes of the release.
next case solved was the death of what many consider (the one true) FBI Anon from last summer.
google "fbi tesla crash" for details...
people then went and look a second look at many other odd crashes - everything from Putin's driver to Paul Walker.

Posted by: Nathan R. Jessup at March 11, 2017 02:14 PM (TixTl)

241 Just occurred to me it goverment money would go further if no actual work got done and the contruction unions, material suppliers, lawyers, goverment oversee inspectors just got paid instead of actually trying to produce a product.

Posted by: Skip at March 11, 2017 02:14 PM (HDU3V)

242 232 Speaking of the Wikileaks release, specifically what they are calling Vault 7, where the "internet of things" is discussed, does anyone besides me now look at the death of reporter Michael Hastings as a little too convenient?
Posted by: navybrat at March 11, 2017 02:03 PM (w7KSn)

But he was a drug addict.

We know that because the media told us.

Posted by: rickl at March 11, 2017 02:15 PM (sdi6R)

243 BART janitors are often as not the hazmat crew.

The old Transbay Terminal was originally built for the Key System trains that ran on the lower deck of the Bay Bridge into the late '50s, by the time I had to deal with it, it was Bum Central.

But you did have the Fun Terminal across the street.

https://youtu.be/MfJ9PVQaE0c

Posted by: JEM at March 11, 2017 02:19 PM (TppKb)

244 And I still maintain the primary reason for the Giant Democrat Push in the Central Valley is, having severely wounded the usual run of private industries out there, they're desperately trying to make all those towns dependent on Sweet, Sweet Government Money.

Posted by: JEM at March 11, 2017 02:21 PM (TppKb)

245 Preer worked for Schumer. You. Can. Not. Trust. Him.

Posted by: richard mcenroe at March 11, 2017 02:24 PM (JkSZW)

246 167
I don't know about the bean counting but here's an idea: train ferries.
If you want to go from Hooterville to Petticoat Junction, you drive your
car onto the train then either stay in your car for privacy or go to
the club car. Then when you get to Petticoat Junction, you drive off
the train and have your car.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks. Now worse than Hitler! at March 11, 2017 12:34 PM (Nwg0u)

Lots of curves, you bet . . . .

Posted by: Caesar North of the Rubicon at March 11, 2017 02:27 PM (jK8Z7)

247 Excellent essay, KT.

And to answer your question, Yes. Every state has their own set of boondoggles, though they might not be as bigly as the CA ones.

For my state of MS, two come readily to mind. About 8 years ago, the state decided to get involved in financing a meatpacking plant. After $150 million spent, the plant closed up shop without ever having cut a piece of meat, not counting all the lobbyist steaks eaten at restaurants. Meh. $150 million, and one person went to jail. Small taters, there.

The second one here is still ongoing, and it is a doozy. It's name is the Kemper power plant. To build a 1 mw natural gas power plant runs about $750 million, start to finish. The Kemper plant was designed to run on local sourced lignite coal, and capture all the CO2 it puts out. It is now 5 years over schedule, still not operational, has a current price tag of about $7.5 billion,

and get this, they now want to convert it to run on natural gas. LOL. That's getting to CA levels of corruptostupidity.

And the power company balls deep in this asshole project wants to raise our rates by 30%, or declare bankruptcy, or something.

Posted by: GnuBreed at March 11, 2017 02:27 PM (xpfRn)

248 After California's sucession from the Union - followed by the successfully mounted NorCal armed rebellion to rejoin the Union?

The state bird shall be the Scrub Jay. The Seal of New West Albion will depict coyote tearing at the entrails of Brown's sun-bloated corpse.

Posted by: 13times at March 11, 2017 02:30 PM (WHVu+)

249 BNONews
11/03/17 12:25
Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of NY, is refusing to resign as requested by the Trump administration - NYT/CNN

Posted by: EVLINC! at March 11, 2017 12:18 PM (y3aQB)

He's already showing up online as the next big Sally Yates style hero for the left. He was asked to leave now tell him to go

Posted by: TheQuietMan at March 11, 2017 02:30 PM (auHtY)

250 Before you read this YAEODH (Yet Another Example Of Democrat Hypocrisy) in California, please make sure you're seated, because it's sure to put you into a state of "I'M SHOCKED!":

http://preview.tinyurl.com/zwrmgq2

(worth a read even if you're not from/have no interest in California)

Posted by: Duncanthrax at March 11, 2017 02:32 PM (DMUuz)

251 248
After California's sucession from the Union - followed by the successfully mounted NorCal armed rebellion to rejoin the Union?

The state bird shall be the Scrub Jay. The Seal of New West Albion
will depict coyote tearing at the entrails of Brown's sun-bloated
corpse.

Posted by: 13times at March 11, 2017 02:30 PM (WHVu+)

West Virginia set the precedent -- seceded from Virginia after Virginia had seceded from the Union, and was welcomed back as a new state by the Union, and never re-merged with the Commonwealth of Virginia after the war was over. I envision East California seceding as well.

Posted by: Caesar North of the Rubicon at March 11, 2017 02:34 PM (jK8Z7)

252 234 I'm in KKKalifornia.

1. This will never be completed.
2. The scrap metal thieves will pick it apart before even the first section is completed.
3. The cost of a ticket is projected to cost more than airfare.
4. The cost of a ticket has gone up almost 400% before actually building the first section.
5. I don't know how but I'm sure Feinstein's criminal husband has made hundreds of millions. My best guess in eco engineering scams.
6. Write of KKKalifornia.
7. Fun Fact: KKKalifornia spends upward of $20 billion a year on ILLEGAL ALIENS.
8. WRITE OFF KKKALIFORNIA
9. If the GOPe and fascist democrats had their way the entire USA would be as screwed up as KKKalifornia but the democrats would be in complete control and that is all they care about.
Posted by: Jukin the Deplorable and Profoundly Unserious at March 11, 2017 02:05 PM (cOHS7)

Calexit, hell.

California should be forcibly ejected from the Union. With extreme prejudice.

Posted by: rickl at March 11, 2017 02:38 PM (sdi6R)

253 138 133 Or a mosque.

Posted by: richard mcenroe at March 11, 2017 02:40 PM (JkSZW)

254 preet has been fired

Posted by: vizzy at March 11, 2017 02:43 PM (TdKpj)

255 261

I love the Bear Flag. Prog's hate the Bear Flag ( see LA Times bear flag article 2015).

Republic of New West Albion Bear Flag.

New West Albion being a placeholder name. Jefferson doesn't work for me.

Posted by: 13times at March 11, 2017 02:45 PM (WHVu+)

256 preet has been fired

I sure hope you enjoyed your 15 seconds of fame...

#neverthelesshepersisted #yourefired

Posted by: Nathan R. Jessup at March 11, 2017 02:49 PM (TixTl)

257 now that preetgate is over we can get back to the important business of Chelsea Clinton Tweet Microanalysis...

Posted by: Nathan R. Jessup at March 11, 2017 02:53 PM (TixTl)

258 Pet nood.

Posted by: Popeye at March 11, 2017 02:54 PM (vRcUp)

259 I sure hope you enjoyed your 15 seconds of fame...

Gone before we could pronounce his name.

Posted by: DaveA at March 11, 2017 02:55 PM (8J/Te)

260 Looking at the trainstation picture, is it just me, or is does that architecture mimic female genitailia? There's a vagina decending from the ceiling and an escalator clitoris. I'm sure it must've won some design contest... <rolls eyes>

Posted by: Slick at March 11, 2017 03:04 PM (MDk4p)

261 137 What California really needs is a statewide trolley system

=====
No. What California needs is a LOT of statesmen*

* statesman(noun) - a dead politician

Posted by: Vlad the Impaler, whittling away like mad at March 11, 2017 03:05 PM (eGPQr)

262 They paved over the tracks.

Top.
People.

Working on a plan.
Posted by: shibumi at March 11, 2017 12:20 PM (J5mC3

=====
meh. I don't get the fascination with trollies. They are the epitome of inflexability. Bus routes can be increased, reduced, redirected at will.

Posted by: Vlad the Impaler, whittling away like mad at March 11, 2017 03:11 PM (eGPQr)

263 They left turned the melting pot into a sewer.
Posted by: Berserker- Dragonheads Division at March 11, 2017 01:00 PM (aMlLZ)

====
Well, being rats at heart they just want to make things more homey.

Posted by: Vlad the Impaler, whittling away like mad at March 11, 2017 03:20 PM (eGPQr)

264
He's the guy who's been engaged in lawfare against Trump already, isn't he?

I think that's the state AG

Posted by: Deplorable Male Logic at March 11, 2017 03:21 PM (lKyWE)

265
Looking at the trainstation picture, is it just me, or is does that architecture mimic female genitailia? There's a vagina decending from the ceiling and an escalator clitoris. I'm sure it must've won some design contest... <rolls eyes>
Posted by: Slick at March 11, 2017 03:04 PM (MDk4p)

I think iy looks like a big funnel you pour money into

Posted by: Deplorable Male Logic at March 11, 2017 03:24 PM (lKyWE)

266
@DineshDSouza 36m

GOOD RIDDANCE DEPT: Obama capo @PreetBharara is a familiar Indian type, subservient to those above him but ruthless with those in his power.

Posted by: Mathers at March 11, 2017 03:28 PM (mDmux)

267 meh. I don't get the fascination with trollies. They are the epitome of inflexability. Bus routes can be increased, reduced, redirected at will.

Posted by: Vlad the Impaler, whittling away like mad

ace posted a link to an article about that a while back... it was about why they preferred fixed route projects like subways to buses. I think it was because they favor certain fixed locations, businesses were more likely to give politicians kickbacks to support them.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at March 11, 2017 03:29 PM (vRcUp)

268 256 preet has been fired

I sure hope you enjoyed your 15 seconds of fame...

#neverthelesshepersisted #yourefired

--------------------------

I think #NeverthelessYoureFired is both more pithy, concise and succinct... =p

Posted by: I smell something Rotten at March 11, 2017 03:33 PM (ctO3Z)

269 GOOD RIDDANCE DEPT: Obama capo @PreetBharara is a familiar Indian type, subservient to those above him but ruthless with those in his power.

Posted by: Mathers

If it came to a government corruption olympics, I think the Indians could give us a run for our money. I keep hearing horror stories about how everyday citizens have to pay bribes to bureaucrats in order to get anything done at all. Imagine having to bribe the DMV in order to renew your driver's license.

Posted by: Steve and Cold Bear at March 11, 2017 03:34 PM (vRcUp)

270 >>If it came to a government corruption olympics, I think the Indians could give us a run for our money. I keep hearing horror stories about how everyday citizens have to pay bribes to bureaucrats in order to get anything done at all. Imagine having to bribe the DMV in order to renew your driver's license.

As bad as it is here, it's not even close. Doing business in India is a nightmare. Daily life is a constant system of payoffs both overtly and more discreetly.

I attribute that subservient to superiors and ruthlessness to those under them to the caste system. People who whine about how racist and bigoted Americans are should spend a little time in India.

Posted by: JackStraw at March 11, 2017 03:40 PM (/tuJf)

271 >>If it came to a government corruption olympics, I think the Indians could give us a run for our money. I keep hearing horror stories about how everyday citizens have to pay bribes to bureaucrats in order to get anything done at all. Imagine having to bribe the DMV in order to renew your driver's license.

We call that Chicago.

Posted by: Aviator at March 11, 2017 03:40 PM (8N5me)

272 Session's has a Huge pimp hand.

Posted by: Under Fire at March 11, 2017 04:00 PM (X+rUO)

273 Indian corruption? pfft

Posted by: Long Shoreman's Union at March 11, 2017 04:04 PM (X+rUO)

274 254 preet has been fired
Posted by: vizzy at March 11, 2017 02:43 PM (TdKpj)

Hope he didn't let the doorknob hit him in the ass.

Posted by: rickl at March 11, 2017 04:07 PM (sdi6R)

275 Hey! That puppy is just grabbing himself some...

Posted by: Rusty Nail at March 11, 2017 05:06 PM (S2VsH)

276 The progressives' fascination with choo-choos is bizarre. Planes are faster; buses and cars are cheaper. What is the advantage of a train? Is there a better transportation deal than a $10 NY-DC ticket on Megabus?

Posted by: biancaneve at March 11, 2017 05:18 PM (A/iod)

277 IP Test

Posted by: Flyboy at March 11, 2017 05:52 PM (HTKQp)

278 If there is a moral compuss in that structure it IS a model vagania. Otherwise probably not.

Posted by: torabora at March 11, 2017 06:50 PM (YZXQH)

279 The train stations in Sacramento smell like piss, junkies sleep in them, pot smokers smell the places up, seats are germ factories. Suicides walk in front of oncoming trains, the splatter balls up traffic for hours. They're rolling urban blight. You really want this.

Posted by: torabora at March 11, 2017 06:53 PM (YZXQH)

280 Corporations can do extravagant and foolish things until they run out of money. Government can do extravagant and foolish things until everybody runs out of money.

Posted by: Mahon at March 11, 2017 07:32 PM (FlW9b)

281 Meanwhile I99 is still two lanes for much of the route and that is unacceptable. Except the people that want the train don't use 99, they fly on the taxpayer dime.

Posted by: torabora at March 11, 2017 07:59 PM (YZXQH)

282 Native Karlifornian here. Grew up in the 1950's-60's and went to the now cess-pit UC Berkeley in the early 1970's. Gov. Moonbeam's first term was the beginning of the end. Evidently nobody shared with him that "Small is Beautiful" was not exactly a good fit with the state's status as the third largest in the country. I remember supposedly smart people arguing that were we to improve the freeways and relax house-building regulations, why more people would come! These Einsteins didn't see the weather, the economy, the beaches, and the mountains as compelling reasons for population growth. So, in came the Era of Limits where the head of Caltrans decided that benign neglect was the ticket. In 1975 we had 21 million. Now we're twice that size. Nothing more need be said about the state of CA's politics. Nothing can fix it. It will simply have to implode. When my elderly mother is no longer with us, we will be packing our bags. I just hope we get out in time.

Posted by: Lawrence Larson at March 11, 2017 08:18 PM (d/r2I)

283 Florida is worse (of course!). Their train is running - but it loses money every trip it makes: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/sunrail/os-sunrail-fares-lose-money-20170224-story.html

Posted by: A Hajra at March 11, 2017 09:15 PM (tM784)

284 Omaha, Nebraska is just as bad. About fifteen years ago, some drug-addled, drunken fool decided that to be a great, trendy city, Omaha needed a trolley. Over the past fifteen years, more money than you can shake a stick at has been spent on study after study after study on this boondoggle. At least a half dozen routes have been planned out and scrapped, but the damn thing is like a zombie, and just refuses to die. Omaha won't support a pathetic bus system, but somebody thinks it will support an expensive trolley from one nowhere place to another nowhere place and back again. I haven't figured out who, but somebody somewhere must think they are going to make a fortune on this thing.

Posted by: Deplorable lady with a deplorable basket of deplorable cats at March 11, 2017 10:24 PM (Exqwe)

285 Lawrence Larson at March 11, 2017 08:18 PM

Interesting what they decided to limit during the "era of limits". Kinda clashes with the idea of a "sanctuary state" in which certain people are exempt from building code enforcement. Parts of highway 99 are, indeed, horrible.

Posted by: KT at March 12, 2017 12:23 AM (qahv/)

286 Construction of the Transbay Center is blamed for the alarming sinking of the adjacent Millenium Tower - a very high-end 58 story building, housing some of SF's toniest residents.

http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Sinking-Millennium-Tower-s-developer-built-9278364.php

This could prove to be a standalone billion-dollar debacle, when these elite dwellers have to abandon their homes because this 7-year-old building is leaning over too far.

Posted by: Disinterested party at March 12, 2017 02:37 AM (l+c7t)

287 Another BULLET train...how many bullets do you get and does the high speed drown out the shots? Ho shot the sheriff but just winged the deputy conductor........

Posted by: saf at March 12, 2017 08:38 AM (+zN6H)

288 This is a terrific post.

So tell us again, California, about how self-sufficient you are and how you don't need to abide by laws at the national level. Every GD request for federal taxpayer money by California and especially anything that might benefit a "sanctuary" city should get the back of the hand from the rest of us. This should be first defunded project on the list. Outrageous.

Posted by: Rev at March 12, 2017 09:09 AM (MmnjW)

289 i have not heard yet how they are going to fund the operating losses which will be YUGE, after (if) they complete the construction

Posted by: Brian at March 12, 2017 12:01 PM (e1zGl)

290 Perhaps you have intentionally overlooked that water storage and management is on Brown's watch and scheduled for $1,000,000,000 investment which is progress as we speak. Perhaps it will even include additional water 'storage'... there'll never be enough of that, though...
At the same time this Golden State approaching 40 Millions of residents can do both at once, and must do, in addition to bringing all the highways up to grade, and the Interstates, as well, because the damage from potholes is marking us as a do nothing state. Who's responsible for that...in Washington or Sacramento?
Have a great day,

Posted by: Daivid Orr at March 12, 2017 04:22 PM (pqTzy)

291 Daivid Orr at March 12, 2017 04:22 PM

"Intentionally overlooked?" As noted in the piece above, emergency flood control efforts are now vital, and are underway. Hope they work.

Many of these efforts would be unnecessary if water infrastructure had been maintained and expanded in a timely manner. Brown did not unveil his new water plan until February of this year. Part of the plan is to speed up bond borrowing approved by voters in 2014. Projects on which the money would be spent had not been identified then, according to the LA Times on Feb. 24.

"Brown took pains to point out that state officials were unlikely to have known what else was needed in places such as Oroville without the real-world test provided by the winter storms."

That is just stupid. State officials (and federal officials) were warned about Oroville almost a decade ago. State officials have known about subsidence in the valleys for a long time, too.

And Jerry Brown is the longest-serving governor in California history. He has not approved construction of a single new reservoir. He's not the only one that has put off reservoir construction. But he has been in office during the recent multi-year drought when the need for new water storage should have been obvious.

As Victor Davis Hanson recently noted in National Review, because of this winter's snow and rain, "Had the state simply completed its half-century-old water master plan, dozens of new reservoirs would now be storing the runoff, ensuring that the state could be drought-proof for years." Instead of sending flood water out to sea.

To answer your question about highways, the long-term, shameful condition of Highway 99 seems to me to be a state responsibility. It is a state highway, maintained by CalTrans according to Wikipedia. I think this is the worst-maintained major highway in the state, though I could be wrong. Other highways actually collapsed during the recent storms.

Posted by: KT at March 12, 2017 06:45 PM (qahv/)

292 Not to worry. An old axiom in government is that the higher the cost to taxpayers the more likely to be built (and concurrently, the more likely to be a continuous drain on the taxpayers). You pay for what you don't get.

Posted by: C Picht at March 13, 2017 05:21 PM (9JdId)

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